Below-average rains persist in parts of eastern South Sudan

KEY MESSAGES

• Moderate rains continued across South Sudan in the third dekad of June. Western parts of the country received between 50 and 100 millimeters (mm) of rain. Considerably less rain fell in the East (Figure 1). Rainfall was between 25 to 50 percent of average in Eastern Upper Nile (Figure 5). Rains in the Southeast remain significantly below-average.

• Vegetation conditions, as indicated by the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) were above average across the country in the beginning of the season from March to May. However, the NDVI began to show a downward trend in June in some areas, especially in Jonglei and Lakes states (Figure 10).

• Field reports indicate crop progress in Leer, Unity State. In Koch County, crops (mostly maize) are currently at different stages of growth because of varying planting times. Households sourced maize seeds from neighboring Mayom County through kinship, bartering, and purchase. Because of extensive time spent searching for food, households in Koch have less time to engage in agricultural activities which is likely to reduce harvests.

• In Lakes State, ongoing inter-tribal conflict has diverted labor critical for planting and weeding. Cultivation has been most affected in Rumbek Center and Rumbek East counties, where conflict forced an estimated 40 to 50 percent of households to abandon their farms. Some households in relatively stable areas are still cultivating.

• Planting is ongoing in Ayod and Duk counties in Jonglei State. Households in Nyirol County planted in early June but drier conditions in late June may affect crop progress, currently at vegetative stages. An estimated 40 percent of the population in Nyirol was unable to cultivate due to seed shortages. Dry conditions were also reported in Akobo County in late June.

• Rains continue in Malakal, Upper Nile State, although most IDPs in the Protection of Civilian (POC) area in Malakal Town were unable cultivate. Following recent humanitarian seed distributions, some farmers travel to their fields in Wau Shiluk during the day to cultivate short-cycle sorghum.

• Moderate to locally heavy (10-40 mm, locally >40 mm) rain is forecast next week for much of South Sudan (Figure 11).

Situation:

• Over 81,999 persons have arrived in Sudan
• 54,326 persons have received humanitarian assistance (specific assistance only).
• Sudan hosts an estimated 350,000 Southern Sudanese individuals following the separation of South Sudan from Sudan.
• Abyei PCA Box is estimated to have received 2,496 (IOM)

Early season rainfall deficits in the northern sector of East Africa

Key Messages

• Early season rainfall deficits were observed in eastern Sudan, Afar and eastern Ethiopia; Karamoja, Uganda; and the Turkana District of Kenya.

• Below-average rains and an earlier-than-normal end to the March to May rainy season in Rwanda and Burundi are expected reduce Season B harvests through July.

• Early El Niño-like conditions are likely to result in average to below-average rainfall performance for the June to September main rainy season in the northern sector of East Africa.

In vast areas of East Africa, violent conflict involving pastoralist communities, and exacerbated by the prevalence of firearms, has resulted in large-scale death and injury, as well as the impoverishment of entire communities.

Many communities reliant on agro-pastoralism are situated in the Karamoja Cluster and in the Horn of Africa. The Karamoja Cluster comprises the border regions of south-western Ethiopia, north-western Kenya, south-eastern South Sudan, and north-eastern Uganda; the Horn of Africa is made up of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

These communities' nomadic migrations in search of water and better pastures for their herds may drive them to trespass on or to trigger conflicts with rival tribes; leading to frequent disputes which often escalate into armed violence and conflict with security providers. At the same time, the widespread availability of firearms heightens the risk of misuse, leading to injuries and death.

Most of these communities have integrated small arms management into their traditional dispute-settling practices in order to regulate firearm misuse and theft.

A new Issue Brief from the Small Arms Survey and Danish Demining Group, Evolving Traditional Practices: Managing Small Arms in the Horn of Africa and Karamoja Cluster, examines local demand, use, and management of firearms in this region.

Evolving Traditional Practices

• Pastoralist communities have more firearms yet feel less safe than non-pastoralist populations. Many pastoralists perceive a need to own firearms for protection, but they generally describe firearms as dangerous.

• Firearm theft is relatively rare among pastoralist communities.

• There is a recognized need for targeted awareness raising, educational programmes, and safe storage training to prevent accidental shootings.

• Rural communities in the Karamoja Cluster and the Horn region adopt similar traditional practices to prevent and punish firearm theft, armed violence, and accidental shootings.

• Participants in this study suggested a range of measures for reducing the misuse of firearms, including disarmament programmes and safe storage training, as well as broader peacebuilding activities, social policies, and education.

• This study will assist local leadership and communities to reduce armed violence and strengthen local and regional firearms control initiatives.

Download Evolving Traditional Practices: Managing Small Arms in the Horn of Africa and Karamoja Cluster

Listen to the Podcast

The Small Arms Survey's Human Security Baseline Assessment (HSBA) for Sudan and South Sudan has documented armed conflict dynamics in the two countries since 2006. In a May 2014 interview, HSBA consultant Joshua Craze, author of several HSBA reports, describes recent developments in South Sudan's political and humanitarian crisis, which has continued to evolve since December 2013. In the first part of the interview, he describes the current crisis and the many competing stakeholders and claims; the second part of the interview, to follow, outlines possible scenarios for the country's future. For a transcript of an extended version of the interview, please visit the HSBA website.

Listen to the Podcast

The second part of this two-part podcast, based on a May 2014 interview with HSBA consultant Joshua Craze, describes the current military situation in South Sudan and outlines possible scenarios for South Sudan's future. The Small Arms Survey's HSBA (Human Security Baseline Assessment) for Sudan and South Sudan has documented armed conflict dynamics in the two countries since 2006. For a transcript of an extended version of the interview, please visit the HSBA website.

Amref Health Africa, with support from the Core Group-funded Polio Eradication Project in South Sudan and the Ministry of Health Central Equatorial State, held a cross-border collaborative meeting to discuss eradicating polio. The cross-border meeting took, place in Kaya County and was attended by representatives from neighbouring districts of Koboko and Arua in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda respectively.

In his remarks to officially open the meeting, Morobo Commissioner Hon Moses Soro noted that “diseases have no borders”. He added that collaboration was important between South Sudan, Uganda and the DRC because people constantly moved across borders and it was impossible to control them.

The main objectives of the meeting were to share information between the bordering countries on the status of polio eradication activities; to identify migrant, mobile and hard-to-reach populations along the South Sudan-Uganda-DRC borders and agree on strategies of how they can be reached; to discuss mechanisms of strengthening surveillance and addressing population immunity gaps along the borders; and to strengthen advocacy, communication and social mobilisation for polio eradication along the border areas.

Following the discussions, a plan of action was agreed upon by the participating countries to strengthen implementation of synchronised immunisation activities and disease surveillance. The plan includes intensification of active case searches, particularly along the borders, and increased delivery of immunisation services to populations in hard-to-reach areas.

Although global indicators show a decline on polio cases, South Sudan is still at risk. While neighbour Kenya reported 14 cases in 2013 and Somalia up to 194, South Sudan reported 64 cases in 2008 and 2009. The latest case was reported in June 2009. However, the current political crisis that has caused displacement of over 1.5million people builds up risks for polio in South Sudan.

Amref Health Africa is the implementing partner for the Polio Eradication Project in Morobo. The project seeks to strengthen routine immunisation services in the county and improve case detection by strengthening community involvement.

As South Sudan marks its third anniversary of independence on 9 July, CAFOD warns that the country is teetering on the brink of catastrophe as it faces its worst food crisis in 25 years, brought about by the ongoing conflict.

CAFOD’s Country Representative, Jane Andanje, said: “This is the rainy season and farmers across the country should be planting, ready to harvest in a few months time. Instead they have been forced to abandon their fields because of the fighting, and are living in squalid conditions in makeshift camps.

“Food prices have rocketed and people are no longer able to feed themselves.

“Today this crisis has left nearly four million people – a third of the country’s population – at risk of severe hunger.”

Fighting broke out between South Sudanese government forces and rival political factions in December last year, first on the streets of the capital Juba, before quickly spreading across the country. Seven months on, the conflict has forced an estimated one million people from their homes, and thousands have been killed.

Christian Modino, who leads CAFOD’s humanitarian response team in Africa, said: “It is now urgent that large-scale humanitarian assistance is allowed to take place – allowing aid to be pre-positioned and delivered to those affected. We need to ensure that already beleaguered communities have access to live-saving food and water, sanitation, healthcare, shelter and essential items.

“The humanitarian community needs all the support it can get to reduce needless suffering.”

CAFOD is scaling up its humanitarian response with its local Church partners – Caritas Malakal and Caritas South Sudan in Upper Nile State – as well as working with Don Bosco in Juba, who are coping with the arrival of more than 1,600 people into their church compound.

Last month the South Sudanese government and rival political factions agreed to end the fighting and form a transitional government. CAFOD cautiously welcomes this latest agreement. Previous deals to end the violence have been broken by both sides, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

CAFOD’s Jane Andanje said: “The international community and all parties to the conflict must redouble their efforts towards the next steps in securing a sustainable, negotiated, peaceful solution.

“Now is not the time for the world to walk away from South Sudan. The people more than ever deserve our concerted attention and efforts; inaction is not an option.”

South Sudan Refugee Situation: UNHCR Regional Update 22, 30 June – 4 July 2014

Highlights

• A total of 2,626 cases of cholera have been recorded in South Sudan since the start of the outbreak on 23 April 2014.

• Alerts of suspected cholera cases have been reported in Wau Shiluk, Upper Nile State and Bentiu protection of civilian area. Four cases tested positive using rapid diagnostic test in Wau Shiluk.

• A total of 1,541,129 medical interventions have been conducted by health cluster partners since 15 December 2013.

Situation Update

• Cholera cases have continued to rise since 23 April 2014 when the first case of cholera was detected.
  As of 3 July 2014, a total of 2,626 cases of cholera had been recorded. The outbreak that was first reported in Juba has spread to areas of Eastern Equatoria State, with increased alert cases of suspected cholera reported from areas of Wau Shiluk in Upper Nile State and Bentiu Protection of Civilian area in Unity State. Partners have stepped up efforts in all the four states by conducting community mobilization campaigns, strengthening case management and surveillance at the community levels and improving water, hygiene and sanitation conditions.

• In Bentiu an average of 2.6 under-five mortality/day/10,000 is being reported. This is higher than the expected in an emergency setting of 2 for children under five and 1 for adults. Most death in children under five is attributed to acute watery diarrhea, severe pneumonia and severe acute malnutrition.

• The security situation in some parts of the country remained relatively tense with heavy shooting reported in Bentiu. Clashes were also reported in Farjala in Western Bahr el Ghazal State.

Why this report? Working at the frontline of delivering humanitarian aid, we at Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are acutely aware of the limitations and deficiencies of the international aid response to crises. Some good work is taking place, and lives are being saved, but much more can, and should be done, to reach those people most in need.

In 2016 the World Humanitarian Summit will bring together global experts in aid to consider the structure and funding of humanitarian work in the future.

In advance of this important meeting, MSF is publishing Where is everyone?, a report which diagnoses some of the key issues inherent in the international response to humanitarian crises.

Emergency response

This report is the result of an extensive literature review and 136 interviews with humanitarians from the UN, NGO and academic world over the past two years.

It is a qualitative report, drawing on relevant quantative data where it is available. Read more about the report's methodology.

Three in-depth case studies from South Sudan, DRC and Jordan are analysed which identify a number of key findings in relation to the performance of the humanitarian system in responding to all three displacement emergencies examined.

Shortcomings in the humanitarian system

The report makes uncomfortable reading for those of us involved in the aid system. It has highlighted areas in our own emergency response which need improving, findings supported by several internal evaluations undertaken of our own work in Maban and Yida recently, executive summaries of which can be found via the links.

It also highlights shortcomings with the response on the side of the humanitarian system as a whole.

Yet we feel it is important to be honest within the sector about the reality of work on the ground in areas and with populations who are difficult to reach but who are in great need.

Debate

We intend this paper to start a real discussion with our colleagues in the aid community – within MSF, with other NGOs, with the UN and with donors, to make us all improve how we respond.

We are organising meetings – public and private – around the world to put these issues on the table, and we encourage others to get involved in the debate.

We will continue to monitor and evaluate responses to current crises, our own and the aid community more generally, and will continue to share the results.

Find out more, get involved

If you are interested in this topic, there is a wealth of wider reading available including reflections from within MSF on its relation with the aid sector, including MSF and the Aid System: Choosing not to choose and Less is more: the case for a purely humanitarian response to emergencies.

If you work in the aid sector yourself and would like to contribute to the debate, you can submit an article to the Opinion and Debate section of our website by contacting the editor on opinion@london.msf.org.

If you are a user of social media, please use #whereiseveryone to help us keep the conversation rolling.

Finland is increasing its humanitarian assistance to South Sudan by 4 million euros. As a result of the crisis in South Sudan, 1.5 million people have had to leave their homes. Almost 400,000 of them have fled to neighbouring countries. There are 3.8 million people in need of assistance, and the risk of famine is great.

“The humanitarian situation is alarming and worsening. If the violence does not stop and a political solution to the crisis is not found, the consequences will be catastrophic,” Development Minister Pekka Haavisto says.

Of Finland’s support, 2 million euros is channelled to the International Committee of the Red Cross and 500,000 euros to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies via the Finnish Red Cross, 1.2 million euros to the World Food Programme WFP, 200,000 euros through Finn Church Aid and 100,000 euros through Fida. The donation brings the humanitarian assistance granted by Finland this year to 8.8 million euros.

The support is paid out of the appropriations for humanitarian aid included within Finland’s development cooperation.

Additional information: Anna Gebremedhin, Head of the Unit for Humanitarian Assistance,
mobile tel. +358 40 583 0149

JUBA, South Sudan– It is the middle of the night in a crowded displacement camp in Juba, South Sudan, and 25-year-old Marsa Nyaluak is losing blood fast. She is in labour and has been bleeding for two hours. She needs help.

Her anxious husband looks on as another woman furiously works to keep Ms. Nyaluak and the baby alive.

“The problem was she was having a breech birth,” says 36-year-old Ana Chuoch David, a community midwife, herself a mother of seven. “The baby’s leg came out first. Luckily the baby was small enough so that I could manage to deliver it without surgery.”

After the baby was born, Ms. Nyaluak faded in and out of consciousness. Blood loss had made her extremely weak. Ms. David sat with her until morning, monitoring both her and the baby, keeping the new mom on a consistent IV drip.

Crisis conditions

The crisis in South Sudan has uprooted almost 1.5 million people and an estimated 7.3 million are at risk of disease and hunger, according to the most recent estimates by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Pregnant women are among the most vulnerable. When the country became independent in 2011, it had the highest maternal mortality rate in the world. Women in South Sudan have extremely limited access to maternal health services, a situation exacerbated by the ongoing conflict.

The clinic inside the Juba 3 displacement camp is run by UNFPA and its partner International Medical Corps. During the day, the tent is bustling with pregnant women receiving antenatal care, but in the dead of night there is no one around but community midwives like Ms. David, who work under precarious circumstances to usher in the next generation of South Sudan. They must be on call 24/7.

Ms. David – who lives in the camp after having been displaced by violence in her home state – is up for the challenge.

“Marsa’s husband ran to my tent to wake me up in the middle of the night. I got up and rushed to the clinic,” she says.

She recently completed an 18-month midwifery training programme that was offered by the government and supported by UNFPA. Completion of the programme does not qualify her as a professional midwife yet, but has given her life-saving skills that she can use where they are critically needed, like in a displacement camp in the middle of the night.

“Here in the clinic I see all of the complications that I learned about in the programme, and I can put what I learned into practice,” she says.

Saving lives

“In the case of Marsa, we gave her IV fluid, iron and vitamins. We struggled to get blood, but there was none. We could not get a transfusion.”

During a crisis it is very hard to find transportation to a hospital, especially at night, says Catherine Munuki, an international midwifery tutor who works with UNFPA. She adds that blood transfusions are extremely difficult to access unless a patient can make it to a hospital in time.

Ms. Nyaluak survived, but only after losing almost one litre of blood.

Without Ms. David and the clinic, she might not have made it.

“I was just wondering what was wrong,” Ms. Nyaluak recalls. “I felt really dizzy, but I knew that I would survive, even though I didn’t have enough blood. I could see they were working to make sure I was OK.”

She knows how fortunate she is. “I am happy the clinic is here,” she says. “Ana saved my life.”

In addition to supporting training programmes and clinics, UNFPA supplies emergency safe delivery and reproductive health kits to operating government health facilities, NGO partners and makeshift maternal clinics in civilian camps across South Sudan.

JUBA — South Sudan Interior Minister Aleu Ayieny Aleu said Monday that anyone who violates the curfew in the capital is a criminal and security officers are under orders to shoot them dead.

"It is only witches who move at night," he said.

"They steal and kill our people... Shoot them. We have to strike hard to stop this problem, so now, even civilians cannot move about at night," Aleu said.

The council of ministers passed the shoot-to-kill order at its most recent meeting, Aleu said.

A curfew was imposed in Juba when fighting broke out in December. It currently runs from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., but there are reports that the authorites plan to move the start time up to 8 p.m. No one was available at the Interior Ministry to confirm or deny those reports.

Rights activists up in arms

Abila Tom Reuben, the human rights coordinator at the Voice for Change NGO said the minister's order violates people's rights - and is unlikely to work.

“With the situation the way it is currently, people in South Sudan do not get scared of death anymore," he said.

That means that a threat to shoot people who venture out at night will not achieve what it was intended to achieve - keep them indoors and bring down crime, Reuben said.

Reuben said that instead of shooting suspected criminals, the government should take steps to improve conditions in South Sudan so that people don't feel they have to turn to crime. Some South Sudanese have turned to theft and robbery to survive because their salaries have not been paid for months or essential services are not being provided, Reuben said.

Edmund Yakani of the Community for Empowerment for Progress also said that if the aim is to cut crime, a shoot-to-kill policy is not the way to achieve it.

“Shooting one criminal is not the solution," he said, adding that it would be better to arrest a suspect so that "through him, you can track down the other criminals."

Reuben and Yakani said they think the new policy is a tactic to divert attention away from the real reasons people are committing crimes, namely desperation, poverty and insecurity. All have been made worse by nearly seven months of conflict in South Sudan.

The threatened deadly crackdown on curfew violators comes at a particularly bad time for soccer fans in Juba, many of whom will be unable to watch the final games of the World Cup in Brazil because they kick off or finish after the curfew begins.

Up to now, many South Sudanese have been defying the curfew to watch the World Cup, and have said that security forces turn a blind eye if curfew violators tell them they are on their way home after a match. But that could change with the new order to shoot-to-kill.

Nyandong* holds her malnourished one-year-old girl, Sunday*; her other children mill round us, their small, thin limbs occasionally wrapping round her.

She tells me what has happened to her family since brutal fighting engulfed parts of Jonglei, South Sudan, in December.

“Innocent people were killed”

“There were a lot of us running together, then some of the people with us got caught. They were surrounded and killed. It was just by luck that we survived.

We crouched and hid behind a fence, just hoping no-one would find us. I could see the scared faces of my children and armed men walking the streets looking for people to kill. Innocent people were killed in those days.

“When the sun set we left. We took nothing; it took us 30 days to walk here.

“We ate leaves off the trees and I thought we would die of thirst. When we saw birds circling we followed them because we hoped they would be flying above water.

“I don’t know how we survived.”

“My children kept asking me for food and water but I didn’t have any. The children were constantly crying. They got rashes on their skin and became thin. They wanted to stop. They fell down on their knees and cut themselves.

“I had to pull them along – if we stopped we would have died there. My daughter had to bring her little brother, but he was too tired. I had to tell her to drag him along even though he cried.”

Hunger is the price for safety

We are talking in remote Nyirol county, in an area set back from the front line where tens of thousands of people have fled for safety. But Nyandong explains that for her family and many others, one threat has been replaced by another. Severe hunger is the price they have paid to escape the bullets.

“Since we arrived here, no-one will kill my family. But hunger could. Hunger could kill everyone here.

“We depend on others. When people in the community give us some food, then we can eat. We eat one small meal a day.

“We mix grass and leaves with sorghum to make it last longer. The leaves are very bad for children – they give them diarrhoea.”

A child about to die

Save the Children screened Nyandong’s daughter Sunday* and found she was severely malnourished. We have been providing food to begin nursing her back to health.

“Sunday was about to die,” Nyandong says. “She was very thin. A baby should walk one year after she is born but Sunday is more than a year old and still she can’t. If she has food I know she will walk soon. And my other children are suffering so much. They have nothing.”

Save the Children is helping children like Sunday but we need your help to reach more. In South Sudan, 50,000 children are likely to die from malnourishment unless treatment is scaled up immediately.

(Save the Children’s nutrition work in Nyirol is possible thanks to funding from the European Community Humanitarian Office)

*Names changed to protect identities

South Sudan stands on the brink of catastrophe with at least one in three people in the country facing severe food shortages (1), as the world’s newest nation marks its third anniversary this week (9 July).

Christian relief and development agency Tearfund reports an increase of more than 300 percent in the number of malnourished children and mothers needing food from its six feeding centres in remote communities in Jonglei, one of the country’s worst affected states, compared to this time last year (2).

The number of children being treated by the clinic has risen since March this year, a trend which is expected to continue in the coming months (3).

People have fled from their villages and have not been able to plant their crops as usual due to the fighting. The harvests in August and November will not provide the usual yields.

Nearly four million people in South Sudan are desperately short of food, a figure which could increase to over seven million by August. An extra one billion dollars is needed to save lives, prevent famine, and stop a generation of children being wiped out by hunger, according to the UN. (4)

Kathleen Rutledge, Tearfund’s Country Director in South Sudan, says: “We are seeing the highest numbers of malnourished children and mothers in need of urgent help than we have seen in the past five years. Many are extremely weak, having walked for days to flee the fighting with no food or means to support their families.

“Famine looms in parts of the country, as the conflict rages on and at a time when rains render some areas virtually inaccessible as roads become rivers of mud. We must prevent the crisis of today becoming a catastrophe tomorrow. The World Food Programme has estimated that more than 50,000 children will die this year due to hunger (5) unless there is an immediate and widespread response.”

Many of the people arriving for the first time at Tearfund’s feeding centres have fled the fighting in Bor and Malakal, flashpoints in the six-month long conflict. Last week, a mother and her five young children arrived at Tearfund’s feeding centre in Motot, having walked more than 100km (60 miles) to escape fierce fighting in Malakal.

The conflict has brought an estimated 20,000 new people to Uror County, Jonglei state, placing unprecedented strain on local families’ dwindling food reserves.

Mother of four, Nyadoang Choat shared her meagre harvest with the some of the many people fleeing from the nearby fighting. The harvest from her larger-than-average plot usually supports her family for seven months, but lasted barely three months this year. During this time, her youngest child, Gat Mai, became severely malnourished and a new patient at Tearfund’s feeding centre in Motot, Uror County.

Nyadoang Choat says, “Tearfund gave us Plumpy Nut and some medicines for Gat Mai and he is now doing well. They also helped with washing soap, a mosquito net and advice on how to keep a safe and clean home."

Fighting continues between the Government and rebel forces despite last month’s agreement (10 June) to bring South Sudan’s war to an end and to form a unity government within 60 days.

Fighting erupted in December 2013 between forces loyal to President Salva Kirr and former Deputy President Riek Machar. Some 1.5 million people have been displaced by the fighting, preventing them from planting or harvesting crops.

“What South Sudan needs most is for the global leaders and everyday citizens to press for peace and stability among the decision makers in the country and to provide food and water as quickly as possible to help minimise the loss of life in the days to come,” adds Kathleen Rutledge.

Interviewees are available in South Sudan or London. Please contact:

Sarah Greenwood on 07423 431417 or sarah.greenwood@tearfund.org

Abby King on 07590 775846 or abby.king@tearfund.org

For out of hour media enquires, please call 07710 573749

Notes to Editors:

Tearfund is supporting thousands of the most vulnerable people in South Sudan by providing food, everyday essentials and repairing vital water supplies. To support Tearfund visit www.tearfund.org

Plumpy Nut is a nutrition packed peanut-like food that malnurioushed children are able to consume and absorb.

Tearfund is a Christian relief and development agency and member of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

Footnotes

1. 1The UN estimates that 4 million people are desperately short of food in south Sudan, out of a population of 10.8 million.

2. New patient admissions for April 2013 were 216, compared to 710 in April 2014, an increase in over 300%, at feeding centres in Motot, Pieri, Pulchol and Pathai, all in Uror county.

3. 356 new admissions in March 2014; rising to 710 in April 2014, rising to 1,065 in May 2014, and to 1164 in June 2014, reporting at feeding centres in Motot, Pieri, Pulchoul and Pathai, all in Uror County. The May and June figures include expansion of the feeding programme to include children with moderate malnutrition in addition to severe malnutrition

4. UN 2014 South Sudan Crisis Response Plan, 14 June 2014

5. UN 2014 South Sudan Crisis Response Plan, 14 June 2014 - See more at: http://www.tearfund.org/en/media/press_releases/famine_looms_as_south_su...

Key Events

 On 30 June, DRMFSS and partners agreed to immediately dispatch relief food and water trucks to respond to the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Arsi zone of Oromia region affecting 66,955 people.

 An assessment team was sent to Somali region following reports of critical water shortages in parts of gu (April-June) rain-receiving areas.

 WFP reports critical resource shortfalls for its refugee operation from September onwards.

On a hot afternoon in Leer town, Unity State, thousands of people are waiting in a vast field. Suddenly, a plane appears on the horizon. As food rations drop from the sky, excitement spreads among the crowd. Local volunteers and aid workers do their best to keep order making sure the distribution of food for 400 families goes as planned.

Read the full story