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JUBA, July 17 (Xinhua / GNA)
– Experts urged warring parties in South Sudan to speed up implementation
of a peace agreement to alleviate the worrying levels of hunger in the country in the middle
displacements caused by more than five years of conflict.
Speak on
Tuesday at a public debate on the prevention of hunger in Juba, Tong
Deng Anei, a researcher at the World Peace Foundation, said the humanitarian movement
The situation remains worrying as thousands of civilians in Unity, in northern Bahr el
The region of Ghazal and Yei in the Equatoria region remains threatened with famine due to
refusal of access to food and disruption of markets caused by conflict.
"The
The situation we are seeing in South Sudan is actually very
worrying. People are starving. In Southern Sudan, no one is supposed to be
hungry because we have fertile land but because of insecurity (conflict)
we are not able to produce enough. But that does not mean we do not have land and
resources, "said Anei.
He noted that
famine was declared in the northern areas of Bahr el-Ghazal and Warrap in June 2016
by the government of Southern Sudan and the UN agencies yet these areas were largely
spared by the conflict that broke out in December 2013.
Anei blamed the
continued closure of the Sudanese border for causing food shortages in these areas.
areas.
South Sudan has
has experienced three famine cycles since 1988 in northern Bahr el Ghazal during
the decades of civil war that have pitifed the rebels of southern Sudan
People's Liberation Army against the Khartoum authorities that eventually led to
the independence of Southern Sudan in 2011.
The recent
famine was declared in June 2017 in the state of Unity, particularly in Leer and Mayendit
areas.
A joint report
by the UN agencies in June estimates that some 21,000 people will likely face a
a catastrophic lack of access to food, while nearly 1.82 million will face emergencies
and 5.12 million more people will face severe levels of food insecurity.
Anei said that
the warring parties must implement the revitalized peace agreement signed between
President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar in September 2018 in Ethiopia
to help relieve the growing number of hungry people in these parts of the
country.
He said south
Sudan needs to strengthen the rule of law and implement the key provisions of
Chapters 4 and 5 of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict of Armed Conflict
Republic of South Sudan, which calls for transitional justice, the establishment of
Hybrid court supported by the African Union to try people accused of war crimes
thousands of displaced people, at the risk of starving them.
however,
Zacharia Diing Akol, Policy Researcher at the Sudd Institute, based in Juba,
says South Sudan can not afford to seek justice for peace right now
implementation is underway, warning that this could dispel the nascent normality
and to return the warring parties to the conflict. "Conflict investigation is
not always easy because we are faced with two things that are
interdependent – the need to have peace so that you can have stability and
need of responsibility. Sometimes there is a tension between the two
things, "he said.
He said the
even people (politicians) accused of war crimes are the same
people implementing peace and any attempt to target them can derail the
process.
"If you
want them to apply the agreement and want to hold them accountable
there are consequences. Full responsibility comes after the situation is
stabilized, "said Akol.
Anne Itto, a
Representative of South Sudan in the Legislative Assembly of East Africa, said
displaced civilians facing hunger are traumatized and that the future of the
country is at risk with a considerable number of children in the most affected
areas suffering from malnutrition.
"Famine
and famine has profound impacts on communities and households. Some people
die but others survive very weak and become subject to diseases, simple
Malaria will kill them. And then in children extreme hunger really stunts
children, "Itto said.
GNA
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