"Top UN officials see severe hunger in South Sudan" by Ilya Gridneff | Associated Press April 03, 2014
NYAL, South Sudan — Desperate South Sudan villagers, fleeing fighting across the country, are eating grass and roots to survive as the World Food Program starts costly air drops of food to northern parts of the country.
But the air drops, three times more expensive than road deliveries, are straining the ramped-up humanitarian response because only a third of the UN’s requested $1.27 billion has been raised for the crisis.
The food program’s top official, executive director Ertharin Cousin, visited Nyal in Unity state on Tuesday before heading on Wednesday to the Ethiopian border town of Gambela, a town overwhelmed by nearly 70,000 South Sudanese fleeing the fighting, which started in December.
A massive Ilyushin plane has started dropping more than 30 tons of food in the northern states. Each drop provides at least 15 days of rations for 18,000 people, intended to help those stranded between progovernment and antigovernment troops.
Because of oncoming rains, ‘‘in a few weeks this area will be totally inaccessible by road, so in order to continue to feed these people we need to already have the food in here and by air is the only means,’’ Cousin said.
More than 25,000 villagers who had fled fighting in the oil-rich Unity state patiently waited at Nyal as the food program and other organizations such as World Vision distributed basic necessities such as cereals, grains, and cooking oil.
I used to believe in the goodness of such things, and am not saying the aid is not appreciated; however, I now also view such efforts within the context of greater penetration of Africa for resource conquest. Screaming famine is just another way to mobilize.
I suppose the problem has become the me$$enger, folks. I simply no longer trust the goodness of corporate liberalism.
Nearly 7 million people are at risk of hunger, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.
The UN reports that in the 100 days since the South Sudan conflict started more than 1 million people have fled their homes and 3.7 million are now at high risk of starving.
A crisis that has been under-covered if you ask me.
Related: 800,000 people have been displaced and 3.2 million are in immediate need of food
That was a month ago.
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"South Sudan needs $230m to stave off starvation, UN says" by Nick Cumming-Bruce | New York Times, April 04, 2014
GENEVA — South Sudan needs $230 million in international aid in the next 60 days or it will face the worst starvation in Africa since the 1980s, when hundreds of thousands of people died in Ethiopia’s famine, the UN official coordinating humanitarian aid in South Sudan warned Thursday.
“We’re in a race against time,” the coordinator, Toby Lanzer, told reporters in Geneva. In a stark message to world leaders, he said, “Invest now or pay later.”
About 3.7 million people, close to one-third of the total population, are already at severe risk of starvation in South Sudan, a crisis now ranked by the United Nations on par with Syria’s, Lanzer said.
Oh, that's why. Syria is in my Jewish War Paper and Agenda Advancer nearly every day.
He appealed for only the most essential needs — food, water, seeds, and farming tools — to allow the South Sudanese to plant crops before the end of May, when rains end the planting season.
“If we miss the planting season, there will be a catastrophic decline in food security,” Lanzer said. “What will strike that country, and it will hit about 7 million people, will be more grave than anything that continent has seen since the mid-1980s.”
I wonder how they are doing in Somalia.
His appeal echoed an alarm sounded by the heads of other UN humanitarian agencies, which estimate that 255,000 South Sudanese have fled to neighboring countries and that around 800,000 more have been driven from their homes by the violence that erupted in mid-December after President Salva Kiir said his former vice president, Riek Machar, had tried to overthrow the government.
Fighting has continued despite the cease-fire agreement they signed in January and there appears to be little chance that stuttering peace talks underway in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, will produce a comprehensive peace pact soon.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan less than three years ago, and it has not faced starvation before. But the conflict has inflicted heavy damage on its already fragile agriculture-based economy, destroying towns, disrupting trade, and cutting production of oil, a key asset, by about half, Lanzer said.
Related: Sudan Series of Stories All Boils Down to Oil
The hostilities need to cease to give people the confidence to tend their land, he noted.
In statement released during a visit to western Ethiopia, where close to 90,000 South Sudanese have fled, Ertharin Cousin, head of the World Food Program, said, “This is a political crisis that is now evolving into a humanitarian catastrophe.”
António Guterres, head of the UN refugee agency, who was also visiting the area, said, “The physical and psychological condition of these people is shocking.
“This is a tragedy I had hoped I would not see again,” he said.
The United Nations is seeking $1.27 billion for South Sudan for 2014, but received only $385 million in the first quarter of 2014, less even than in the equivalent period of 2013.
“It’s hard to compete with Syria and Ukraine,” Lanzer said, expressing a frustration shared by relief agency officials working in the Central African Republic, where the shortage of funding for humanitarian aid has also stoked fears of an impending disaster.
I'll cross that river when I come to it.
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"Chad pulls troops from Central African Republic; Decries scrutiny after peacekeepers fired into crowd" by Steve Niko and Krista Larson | Associated Press April 04, 2014
BANGUI, Central African Republic — The government of Chad said Thursday it is withdrawing more than 800 peacekeepers from a mission to stabilize neighboring Central African Republic after the Chadian troops came under scrutiny for firing into a crowd of civilians last week, killing at least 32 people.
Chad has been a key player in the Central African Republic crisis that deepened in December when the country exploded into sectarian bloodshed. Chad’s forces have been instrumental in the effort to evacuate Muslims across the northern border into Chad, a predominantly Muslim nation.
‘‘I leave my fate now only in the hands of God,’’ said Aboubakar Moussa, who remains in PK5, one of the last neighborhoods where Muslims still live after a mass exodus following brutal violence in Bangui earlier this year.
Somehow the murder of Muslims doesn't create as much urgency at the U.N.
Somehow the murder of Muslims doesn't create as much urgency at the U.N.
Chadian Foreign Affairs Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat cited a ‘‘gratuitous and malicious campaign’’ against the Chadians, in announcing the decision. He said their forces had been blamed for the problems and suffering in Central African Republic despite having made considerable sacrifices.
Chadian troops were accused of killing 32 civilians when they opened fire on a crowd over the weekend. The African peacekeeping mission known as MISCA later defended the Chadians, saying they had come under attack first from the armed Christian militants who deeply despise the presence of Chadian forces on Central African soil.
The Chadian troops also were accused of supporting the Muslim rebel government known as Seleka that left power in January. ‘‘They are assassins and accomplices of the Seleka. It’s high time that they left,’’ said Zephirin Koualet, a Bangui civil servant.
The major concern now is what will happen if Chad’s President Idriss Deby ‘‘just withdraws in a huff’’ from the international effort to try to stabilize the country, said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director for Human Rights Watch.
‘‘It’s very much left open how long [a withdrawal] will take or whether this is just a bargaining tactic by Deby to try to get the international community to stop criticizing the actions of his troops,’’ he said.
In addition to the civilian deaths, the Chadian forces within MISCA have also been accused of failing to coordinate their actions with other peacekeepers, at times engaging in rogue activities including helping the Seleka to move freely about the country, human rights groups say.
‘‘They consider themselves the saviors of the Central African Republic who’ve evacuated so many tens of thousands of Muslims and any kind of criticism is just unacceptable from their point of view,’’ Bouckaert said. ‘‘Their role is very important in the Central African Republic, but at the same time a situation where they can just do as they please and fire on the civilian population and facilitate Seleka movements is just not acceptable.’’
Chad and its president have long played a complicated role in the crisis in its southern neighbor. While Chadian troops helped bolster the now-ousted government of Francois Bozize in Central African Republic, Chadian mercenary fighters helped Muslim rebels overthrow his government in March 2013.
Those same Chadian fighters later were accused of carrying out some of the worst atrocities against Christians in the country, and as a result all Chadian nationals have been targeted for attack since the Muslim rebel government dissolved in January. The Christian anti-Balaka fighters — known for wearing amulets they say protect them from gunfire — have killed hundreds of Muslims in Bangui since the rebel government fell.
There are also Chadian special forces operating in Central African Republic who are outside the mandate of the peacekeeping mission.
France has sent 2,000 troops and other African nations have contributed more than 5,000 peacekeepers to the effort. There is a universal recognition that more forces are needed, and calls have been growing for the effort to be transformed into a UN peacekeeping mission.
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Related:
"Chad troops defend actions in C. African Republic" by Hippolyte Marboua and Krista Larson | Associated Press March 31, 2014
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The African peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic on Monday defended Chadian soldiers who had killed more than 30 civilians over the weekend, saying the troops had come under attack from Christian militants and were merely defending themselves.
However, the response from Gen. Martin Tumenta Chomu was unlikely to dampen the mounting anger toward the Muslim Chadian forces, who are bitterly despised by Bangui’s Christian majority. Already some civilians were calling on the Christian fighters to step up their attacks on all Muslims following the deaths....
Chad has long been accused of meddling in the conflict in its southern neighbor Central African Republic, as Chadian mercenary fighters helped Muslim rebels overthrow the government in March 2013. Those same Chadian fighters were accused of carrying out some of the worst atrocities against Christians in the country, and as a result all Chadian nationals have been targeted for attack since the Muslim rebel government dissolved in January.
In addition to the Chadian forces aiding the MISCA mission, there are also special forces from the Chadian military who have been in Central African Republic to help evacuate Muslims under threat of attack. The Christian anti-Balaka fighters — known for wearing amulets they say protect them from gunfire — have killed hundreds of Muslims on the streets of Bangui since the rebel government fell.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern at the latest upsurge in violence, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Ban did not mention the Chadian shootings but condemned ‘‘in the strongest possible terms all acts of violence against civilians, and against international forces working in the Central African Republic to re-establish peace and order,’’ Dujarric said.
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Also see: April Fool: French Funny
Related:
"Chad troops defend actions in C. African Republic" by Hippolyte Marboua and Krista Larson | Associated Press March 31, 2014
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — The African peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic on Monday defended Chadian soldiers who had killed more than 30 civilians over the weekend, saying the troops had come under attack from Christian militants and were merely defending themselves.
However, the response from Gen. Martin Tumenta Chomu was unlikely to dampen the mounting anger toward the Muslim Chadian forces, who are bitterly despised by Bangui’s Christian majority. Already some civilians were calling on the Christian fighters to step up their attacks on all Muslims following the deaths....
Chad has long been accused of meddling in the conflict in its southern neighbor Central African Republic, as Chadian mercenary fighters helped Muslim rebels overthrow the government in March 2013. Those same Chadian fighters were accused of carrying out some of the worst atrocities against Christians in the country, and as a result all Chadian nationals have been targeted for attack since the Muslim rebel government dissolved in January.
In addition to the Chadian forces aiding the MISCA mission, there are also special forces from the Chadian military who have been in Central African Republic to help evacuate Muslims under threat of attack. The Christian anti-Balaka fighters — known for wearing amulets they say protect them from gunfire — have killed hundreds of Muslims on the streets of Bangui since the rebel government fell.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern at the latest upsurge in violence, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Ban did not mention the Chadian shootings but condemned ‘‘in the strongest possible terms all acts of violence against civilians, and against international forces working in the Central African Republic to re-establish peace and order,’’ Dujarric said.
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Also see: April Fool: French Funny
