Highlights

• According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification for September, while the food security situation has improved, the nutrition situation will remain dire for remainder of the year. The prevalence of global acute malnutrition (GAM) is likely to remain above emergency thresholds (GAM >15%), as defined by WHO, especially in conflict-affected states. High levels of acute malnutrition are attributed to inadequate food consumption, morbidity, dietary and feeding habits, and severely constrained health and nutrition service delivery.

• 500,000 people in remote and hard to reach areas, including over 100,000 children under 5, have been reached by the 25 joint UNICEF-WFP rapid response missions to date. During the reporting period, one team undertook a mission to Wathjak, Ulang County, Upper Nile while another is currently deployed in Pathai in Uror County of Jonglei.

• Since the eruption of the conflict in December 2013 until present, the UN has received more reports of grave child rights violations than in all of 2012 and 2013 combined. Through the MRM, reports of 511 incidents affecting 30,746 children (20,930 boys, 9,284 girls and 532 of unknown sex) have been received, out of which 406 incidents were verified, affecting 13,850 children. Credible reports have been received that child recruitment is ongoing by both sides to the conflict. This includes information about both voluntary and forced recruitment.

1.4 million
People internally displaced since 15 December (OCHA, SitRep #53 dated 18 September, 2014)

748,647
Estimated internally displaced children under 18 years

Outside South Sudan452,900
Estimated new South Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries since 15 December 2013 (OCHA, SitRep #53 dated 18 September, 2014)

Priority Humanitarian Funding needs January - December 2014
US$ 151.7 million**

IOM South Sudan Humanitarian Update 37 (11 -17 September 2014)

IOM Regional Response to South Sudan Crisis, External Sitrep, 15-21 September 2014

I arrived onto a waterlogged airstrip in Akobo, where the helicopter seemed to hover nervously a little longer than was reassuring.

I had heard rumours of this being the ‘muddiest place on Earth’, so I came prepared with wellies.

Unfortunately, my colleague did not, and like most people here during the rainy season, she was forced to walk barefoot, for fear of the mud claiming her trainers, never to be seen again.

After the mud, the water

Our journey to Save the Children’s field base was far from over, though. Clambering into a small speedboat, we made our way along a river; children and adults were washing and bathing along the banks.

Finally, after a little more walking, we arrived.

Since violence erupted in December last year, around 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes.

A hunger crisis now stalks South Sudan. In Akobo, Save the Children is supporting those affected by the current crisis by providing child protection activities, nutritional treatment, and food security and livelihoods support.

We also provide education through an Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP), funded by DfID, whereby children who have missed out on education because of conflict and displacement can catch up.

It was these activities I had come to visit.

Sebit’s story

Sebit*, a 13-year-old boy, told me why he, like many other children, hadn’t previously been able to go to school.

“I decided I wanted to go to school last year. My father was a soldier and was deployed, my older brother was sent to Uganda to go to school, and I helped my mother with the smaller children.

My father got sick in the army, and went to Nairobi to be treated but he died. If my father had come back from the fighting to help at home, I would no longer have to help, and would have gone to primary school.”

Fortunately for Sebit, the ALP enables children who have missed out on primary school – a situation that’s all too common – to learn flexibly.

A chance at education

This is particularly important as many are still unable to commit to full-time education.

“Before I started the ALP here, I didn’t have an education,” Sebit says. “My mother didn’t allow me to go to school because I had to help look after the other children.

“I didn’t know why school was important – but now I realise what’s important, and I want to learn. My mother says I can now. I help with my siblings in the morning, and go to school in the afternoon.”

A life-changing opportunity

For children like Sebit, the ALP is a life-changing opportunity. It allows them to reclaim their education, and empowers them to learn in the face of significant challenges and adversity.

Each person I spoke to, including Sebit, had lost a family member, a home, or an education, but none of them ever lost hope.

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

September 23, 2014 (ADDIS ABABA) – South Sudan’s government and rebels led by former vice-president Riek Machar resumed peace negotiations in Ethiopia on Monday despite renewed fighting in some parts of the country.

Clashes last week in Upper Nile state between government and opposition forces reportedly led to the deaths of some 180 troops from both sides.

Regional mediators have expressed concern that the outbreak of fresh fighting could hamper the new round of peace talks aimed at ending the more than nine-month-long conflict in the young African nation.

The talks, which are being mediated by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), have yet to achieve a lasting political settlement to the crisis and have been subject to ongoing delays.

Both sides have expressed their commitment to respecting the truce agreement despite repeated violations of the ceasefire.

IGAD Monitoring and Verification Teams are due to launch an investigation in to which side triggered the latest outbreak of violence and submit a comprehensive report to mediators.

IGAD has now moved the venue of talks to Bahir Dar city, some 560km north of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, which was the previous venue.

Opening the peace talks, IGAD chief mediator Seyoum Mesfin warned the warring factions to stop stalling over procedural issues.

The Ethiopian diplomat noted that the crisis will not be resolved through hostility, but through dialogue, further urging both parties to demonstrate the political will to reach a comprehensive political settlement to the conflict.

“If you are committed to peace, you will not find it through the barrel of the gun, but around this table,” Mesfin said.

According to the state-run Ethiopia broadcasting corporation, Mesfin’s comments reflect the growing frustration among IGAD leaders and international diplomats at the failure of both sides to end the fighting

At a summit last month, IGAD leaders said they were prepared to take action against any side which attempts to obstruct ongoing efforts to achieve durable peace in South Sudan.

Mediators have also warned that those obstructing the peace process would be denied participation in future governance arrangements for South Sudan.

The US and the European Union have already slapped sanctions on top military leaders on both sides of the conflict.

(ST)

Ayuel Santino Manut

Last updated on: September 23, 2014 1:02 PM

KUACJOK— Thousands of residents of Warrap state in South Sudan have been displaced after heavy rains caused flash flooding that washed away entire villages, state officials and aid agencies said Tuesday.

Benjamin Yaathdit Wol, the director of the South Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission in Warrap state, said officials know of at least 6,100 people who have been impacted by the flooding in two of the state's six counties, and fear the total figure is much higher.

"We have two counties where we have figures: Tonj South, where the flood has affected 3,000 households and Tonj North where we have already witnessed 3,126 households” that have been affected, Yaathdit said.

The floods also swept away livestock and destroyed crops, leaving people unable to provide food for themselves or their families,Tonj South County Commissioner William Wol Mayom said. In some places, the entire year's crop was damaged.

Because of a lack of clean drinking water, many people are suffering from dehydration, and, as if that were not enough, some displaced people have been bitten by snakes, Mayom added.

Aid officials said they have been able to reach some of the displaced in Tonj South, but have not yet been able to help people in Tonj North.

Iresh Nyambiki, who works for Italian charity Collaborazione Comitato Medica in Tonj South, said huge numbers of people have been displaced.

"They are on the roadside... There is no food, no clothes. They do not have even mosquito nets," she said.

The Italian charity's facilities have been flooded, impacting their ability to reach and help the displaced, she said.

The rains are expected to continue until November.

By Noel Marie Zagre and Gary Quince

Dr. Noel Marie Zagre, MPH, PhD is UNICEF’s Regional Nutrition Adviser for Eastern & Southern Africa and Ambassador Gary Quince is Head of the European Union Delegation to the African Union.

JOHANNESBURG, Sep 24 2014 (IPS) - Eric Turyasingura chases after a ball made from plastic bags outside his mud-brick home in the mountains of southern Uganda.

Yelling in his tribal tongue, Nkore, “Arsenal with the ball! Arsenal with the ball!” he jostles with his younger brothers for possession.

The fame of the English soccer club has reached even his little ears. Pretending to be a sports star offers a moment of escape from his daily struggles.

At five years old, Eric’s tiny body already tells a story of poverty and lost opportunity. He is six inches shorter than he should be for his age. His arms and legs are pencil-thin and his head is out of proportion to his body.

Because he is stunted, experts say his chances growing up healthy, learning at full potential, and getting a job, let alone play professional soccer, have been greatly diminished.

In 2013, a United Nations Report said one in four children under five years, across the world – a total of 165 million – were stunted, while last year The Lancet estimated that undernutrition contributed 45 percent of all under-5 deaths.

Often beginning in the womb as poverty-stricken mothers live hand-to-mouth, stunting can be a lifelong affliction. Studies show it is linked to poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages and lost productivity. A stunted child is nearly five times more likely to die from diarrhoea than a non-stunted child because of the physiological changes in a stunted body.

Development agencies say significant progress has been made in ensuring children are properly nourished, and as a result, the incidence of stunting is declining.

However, huge challenges remain and in sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of stunted under-fives is two in five. With crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Syria and now Iraq displacing millions of people, combating hunger and ensuring stunting rates don’t creep back up has become a top priority.

“We will not eliminate extreme poverty or achieve sustainable development without adequate food and nutrition for all,” said U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon at a meeting of global hunger agencies in Rome.

“We cannot know peace or security if one in eight people are hungry.”

As such, the first “pillar” of Secretary General’s “Zero Hunger Challenge” aims to eliminate stunting in children under two years old.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is also a partner in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement, another major global push, bringing together more than 50 countries in an effort put national policies in place and implement programme with shared nutrition goals.

One innovative programme – the Africa Nutrition Security Partnership, being implemented by UNICEF and funded by the European Union since 2011- is combating stunting both at the community level and the institution level.

Acutely malnourished children at risk of death are directed to health clinics, and at the same time health institutions and partners are given the tools they need to improve infant and young child feeding practices and hygiene, and better fight hunger and disease. The four-year programme focuses on Ethiopia (with a stunting rate of 44 percent), Uganda (33 percent), Mali (38 percent) and Burkina Faso (35 percent).

The aim is to change behaviour among households, set up systems for effective multisectoral approaches and increase government capacity, enabling these countries to battle against the effects of hunger long after the programme is complete.

In Uganda, for example, community workers have been provided with smart phones, programmed with information about hygiene, postnatal care and proper infant and maternal diet. The workers share the information with household members and then log their location on the smart phone’s GPS to prove they were there.

In Mali’s capital, Bamako, funding has been provided to broaden a master’s degree to provide advanced training to healthcare professionals about how to best design and implements nutrition programmes.

In Ethiopia, schoolgirls are being encouraged to delay marriage and pregnancy until they are at least 18, as a way of preventing intergenerational undernutrition. Older women are better able to carry a baby and rear children with stronger bodies and minds.

The increased focus on stunting by the humanitarian community is telling: its prevalence has become a kind of litmus test for the well being of children in general. A child who has grown to a normal height is more likely to live in a household where they wash their hands and have a toilet; is more likely to eat fruit and vegetables, is more likely to be going to school; is more likely to get a good job; and is less likely to die from disease.

Moreover, tipping the balance in favour of a child’s future isn’t as hard as some might think. The simple act of reinforcing the importance of exclusively breastfeeding a baby for the first six months of his or her life, for example, increases an infant’s chances of survival by six times.

Most of the regions where the partnership is being run have ample food to go around. It is other factors, such as failing to properly wash and dry utensils after meals, selling nutritious homegrown foods at market rather than eating them, and cultural sensitivities to things like vegetables and eggs that are causing problems. As such, simply education programmes can make a real difference and save countless lives.

The other challenge is ensuring there is enough political will to keep those programmes running. If the international community remains focused, the downward trend in stunting will continue. It could only be a few short years before children from modest African communities like the mountains of southern Uganda get to really play for teams like Arsenal. Children just need to be allowed to grow to their full potential and good things will follow.

Edited by: Nalisha Adams

As of the end of September 2014, the Humanitarian Response Fund (HRF) allocated some US$12.2 million, covering a wide range of responses from treatment of malnutrition, to emergency water sanitation and hygiene (WASH), health and agriculture projects. During the year, significant support was also provided to refugees, particularly to South Sudanese asylum seekers that crossed the border seeking for protection and humanitarian assistance. In addition, support to common services including the humanitarian air service and common pipelines for nutrition programmes were funded. The HRF will continue supporting sectoral priorities; however funding shortages have forced its interventions to focus on purely life-saving activities.

24 September 2014 - Internally displaced persons (IDPs) at an UNMISS protection site in Juba are using polythene bags to make handicrafts and earn their livings, thanks to an initiative of UN Police (UNPOL).

During a recent visit to the Protection of Civilians UN House, UN Development Programme (UNDP) official Biplove Choundry viewed the achievement of these IDP women, who had fled violence to find shelter in the camp.

Mr. Choundry, who serves as the UNDP Human Development and Inclusive Growth Unit team leader was pleased with the commitment and enthusiasm of the women and children in learning these skills from women UNPOL officers.

He promised to organize an exhibition on 29 September for the IDPs to showcase their products, which would launch them as entrepreneurs.

“I am humbled by the initiative of UN Police for starting something from nothing,” he said. “It looks small but this is very big. We are going to find out the way of helping in the livelihoods of these women.”

Mr. Choundry was accompanied by senior officials from UNPOL and colleagues from UNDP South Sudan.

Minda Aucone, UNPOL State Advisor Central Equatoria, said the initiative came as a result of UNMISS’ new mandate to protect civilians.

In protecting civilians, UNPOL officers were teaching IDPs crocheting so they could earn their livings. They were also informally passing on knowledge of gender-based violence and community policing to build their confidence and bridge the gap between IDPs and UN Police.

Handicraft items the IDP women are making include Matts, tablecloths and handbags.

BENTIU, 24 September 2014 (IRIN) - The 47,000 people who have fled to the UN base in Bentiu, South Sudan, lack most things. In some parts of the camp, 158 people are forced to share one latrine. Women and children swelter for hours waiting for their turn at a borehole. August downpours destroyed mattresses and clothes and replacements are virtually impossible to come by.

The only thing there is too much of is the toxic green water - left over from last month's rain - a stagnant pool across much of the camp that flows into people's homes with each new storm.

The situation is especially hard on certain groups - the elderly, single mothers and people with disabilities - who have few resources to call on when they run low on food or need to buy medicine. Overstretched aid agencies are helping, but people still have to make concessions, whether it is risking their safety to gather firewood outside the camp or trading their food rations for medicine when a child falls sick.

And still people keep arriving, including 500 more last week, looking for a measure of security and some services, which they can no longer find in the areas around Bentiu.

"The problem is fear and food," said Subodh Vijapure, the water and sanitation manager for Concern Worldwide, one of the first agencies to start work in the camp. "For that, they just kept on walking for days to get here from where they are hiding."

Nyalada Maliut turned up in July. In mid-January, the widowed mother of seven was shot three times when one of the frontlines passed through her rural home. She was treated for a week before a group of armed men stormed the hospital and forced all of the patients to flee. With her children, she retreated to a swamp and for six months they lived on a thin porridge made from dried water lilies.

When Maliut's youngest son started to show signs of malnutrition, she decided to make the dangerous trek to the UN base. They arrived safely and the two-year-old was quickly enrolled in a feeding programme Concern is running. But she worries her other children are not getting enough to eat.

Now she has joined the line of women leaving the camp each morning to collect firewood outside the camp. Ten women have been raped outside the base since the end of August, according to the UN. But Maliut takes the risk because if she can make some extra money by selling the firewood, she will be able to afford to supplement the rations of sorghum the family receives from the World Food Programme (WFP).

She is not disappointed she came to the camp, but frets "the services that are here are not enough. I'm just tired."

Ill-prepared

No one was prepared for this level of need in Bentiu. At the start of South Sudan's conflict in mid-December, the UN opened its bases to people seeking safety. There are now more than 100,000 people gathered at 10 camps, also known as protection of civilian, or PoC, sites.

"Until not too long ago, Bentiu was one of the least of our concerns, almost," said Derk Segaar, who heads the protection team for the UN Mission in South Sudan. "Around April we had around 2,000 people in the PoC site. It was very small. And we had a huge amount of space."

On 15 April there was a particularly brutal battle in the Unity State capital, which included the massacre of hundreds of people seeking refuge in one of the town's mosques. Tens of thousands of people fled to the PoC just as the seasonal rains started, rendering any improvements to the camp - which is built on a flood plain - impossible. It also made it dicey to land anything but helicopters on the town's dirt runway, throttling the pace at which supplies can arrive.

Humanitarians have been playing catch-up ever since. There are currently 16 agencies active in the camp, with more than 70 aid workers. Four health clinics are operating, but do not meet all medical needs.

At first the priority was trying to get everyone into shelters and start feeding them. By June, at least three children each day were dying of malnutrition. As feeding centres brought those numbers under control, the problem of acute watery diarrhoea arose - probably linked to the standing water. In one week earlier this month, aid agencies recorded 131 cases.

Floods ruin camp infrastructure

Meanwhile, much of the camp's infrastructure fell apart in the floods. Houses flooded and toilet blocks collapsed. Concern's Vijapure estimated there was a gap of at least 900 latrines at the moment. During the height of the storms, some people slept standing up for weeks at a time.

Better than going outside, though. Government soldiers are positioned around the town and reports place rebels just outside. There are persistent rumours that fighting could start at any moment.

"It is very clear just how fragile the security situation is and how afraid people are that things can go bad," Segaar said. "Because nobody in their right mind would want to stay."

Elizabeth Nyadom is sharing a shack with her sister and their combined eight children in the middle of the PoC. They came in May because Nyadom's oldest son, James, is handicapped and cannot move easily. It was becoming more and more difficult to find someone to carry him to safety each time fighting broke out.

A foul-smelling pond laps against their door. Every time it rains, the two sisters hurriedly scoop water out of the hut. While they work, their children, including James, crowd onto their only bed. If the water ever climbs above the height of the bedframe, Nyadom would not be able to rescue all of the children from drowning.

On 15 April there was a particularly brutal battle in the Unity State capital, which included the massacre of hundreds of people seeking refuge in one of the town's mosques. Tens of thousands of people fled to the PoC just as the seasonal rains started, rendering any improvements to the camp - which is built on a flood plain - impossible. It also made it dicey to land anything but helicopters on the town's dirt runway, throttling the pace at which supplies can arrive.

Humanitarians have been playing catch-up ever since. There are currently 16 agencies active in the camp, with more than 70 aid workers. Four health clinics are operating, but do not meet all medical needs.

At first the priority was trying to get everyone into shelters and start feeding them. By June, at least three children each day were dying of malnutrition. As feeding centres brought those numbers under control, the problem of acute watery diarrhoea arose - probably linked to the standing water. In one week earlier this month, aid agencies recorded 131 cases.

Floods ruin camp infrastructure

Meanwhile, much of the camp's infrastructure fell apart in the floods. Houses flooded and toilet blocks collapsed. Concern's Vijapure estimated there was a gap of at least 900 latrines at the moment. During the height of the storms, some people slept standing up for weeks at a time.

Better than going outside, though. Government soldiers are positioned around the town and reports place rebels just outside. There are persistent rumours that fighting could start at any moment.

"It is very clear just how fragile the security situation is and how afraid people are that things can go bad," Segaar said. "Because nobody in their right mind would want to stay."

Elizabeth Nyadom is sharing a shack with her sister and their combined eight children in the middle of the PoC. They came in May because Nyadom's oldest son, James, is handicapped and cannot move easily. It was becoming more and more difficult to find someone to carry him to safety each time fighting broke out.

A foul-smelling pond laps against their door. Every time it rains, the two sisters hurriedly scoop water out of the hut. While they work, their children, including James, crowd onto their only bed. If the water ever climbs above the height of the bedframe, Nyadom would not be able to rescue all of the children from drowning.

With harvesting season approaching, CARE has called for urgent action to reduce needless deaths from hunger and malnutrition.

JUBA, South Sudan—(September 24, 2014)-- With the beginning of South Sudan’s harvesting season just weeks away, aid organization CARE says time is now critical for the global community to help prevent thousands of needless deaths due to hunger and malnutrition in the world’s youngest nation.

The warning comes on the back of a new report from the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC), the key tool for monitoring the status of the food crisis in South Sudan, which says that around 1.5 million people are still classified as living in a food crisis (Phase 3) or food emergency (Phase 4).

However, in a sign of strong headway made through efforts to address the hunger crisis in South Sudan, the new IPC report indicates that the number of people classified as being in either a food crisis or food emergency has reduced by around 2.2 million people since May.

“I saw firsthand how our efforts to address this horrific food crisis are beginning to pay off when I met a young mother in a UN camp in Bentiu who fled the violence, and now she and her children are receiving life-saving aid," said CARE CEO Helene Gayle during a recent visit to South Sudan.

Gayle added, "However, we are not out of the woods yet. There are thousands who are cut off from aid access due to the ongoing conflict, and the anticipated poor harvest leave many at risk of malnutrition and starvation. The best solution to ensure we avert famine and see sustainable development in South Sudan is for all parties to find a permanent solution for achieving peace."

With South Sudan’s traditional period for harvesting to begin in early October, the hunger crisis in South Sudan is now entering a critical period that could determine whether tens of thousands of people would survive the next six months.

“With the beginning of harvesting season just weeks away, now is the time for the international community to ramp up efforts to get much-needed food, seeds and the tools for growing food across the country to ensure parents will have enough nutritious food to feed their badly malnourished children,” said Aimee Ansari, Country Director for CARE in South Sudan.

Ansari added that while the new data demonstrated the effectiveness of international efforts to address the crisis in South Sudan, the threat of severe hunger still looms large. If current trends continue, around 2.5 million people will be living in severe hunger by early 2015.

“Let’s put this good news in perspective: more than one in seven people here in South Sudan are still starving or facing severe malnutrition,” said Ansari. “That’s the equivalent of the entire city of Philadelphia living from day-to-day in a desperate search for food.”

Ansari said CARE was rapidly expanding its food assistance -- getting seeds, tools and fishing equipment to thousands of families across South Sudan’s hardest-hit states of Jonglei, Unity and Upper Nile.

“We’ve already supported more than 300,000 people across South Sudan, with 24,000 of those people receiving food and livelihood assistance alone. But we desperately need more support to ensure we can expand our work at this critical juncture."

She said $15 can provide a malnourished new mother with urgent food for three months, and $33 can provide a family with vegetable seeds to grow more food to help prevent severe malnutrition.

“In a situation as extreme as what’s happening here in South Sudan, the value of a small handful of seeds – and the tools to cultivate them – cannot be understated,” said Ansari.

Since the outbreak of violence in December 2013, an estimated 1.5 million people have been displaced from their homes and communities, and an estimated 450,000 people have crossed into neighboring Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda in search of food and to escape violence. CARE is providing emergency water, sanitation, hygiene services and education, in addition to nutrition and livelihoods assistance. CARE also supports over 40 health facilities in Unity and Upper Nile States, two of the states most heavily affected by fighting.

About CARE in South Sudan:

CARE has been operating in Southern Sudan since 1993, initially providing humanitarian relief to internally displaced people in Western Equatoria. The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 allowed CARE to expand into Jonglei and Upper Nile States to support returnees from the refugee camps, and the organization has since broadened its operations to include development programs.

Founded in 1945, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE has more than six decades of experience helping people prepare for disasters, providing lifesaving assistance when a crisis hits, and helping communities recover after the emergency has passed. CARE places special focus on women and children, who are often disproportionately affected by disasters. To learn more, visit www.care.org

Interviews with CARE staff in South Sudan are available. Contact Holly Frew +1.770.842.6188 hfrew@care.org

U.S.A. – Wildfires

• Over 36 000ha have been burnt by an active wildfire (named “King Fire”) near Sacramento, northern California, while it has also destroyed 68 structures, including 12 houses, as of 24 September. Evacuations are still in effect.

• A second large wildfire, “Happy Camp Complex”, has burnt over 53 000ha in Siskiyou County. It is currently 86% contained. (NICC, USDA)

Ukraine/Russia – Severe Weather

• Severe weather, including strong winds, heavy rainfall and storm surge, is affecting south-eastern Ukraine and south-western Russia, as of 24 September. Media report electricity and water disruptions in Mariupol, southern Donetsk, while power outages are also affecting Crimea, Rostov Oblast and Krasnodar Krai.

• According to JRC calculations, storm surge of up to 2.9m may affect the north-eastern coast of Azov Sea in the afternoon of 24 September. (JRC, Russian Meteo, Ukrainian Meteo, Local Media 1 & 2)

India – Severe Weather

• Heavy rainfall continues over north-eastern India. The death toll due to floods, the overflow of river Brahmaputra and landslides continues rising, with 34 people reportedly killed in Meghalaya and another 30 in Assam, as of 24 September, according to local media. The affected people are estimated to be approx. 300 000.

• Heavy rainfall is further forecast in parts of Assam and Meghalaya during the course of 24 September. (IMD, Local Media 1 & 2)

China – Tropical Cyclone

• After making landfall in Zhejiang and Shanghai, FUNG-WONG weakened into a Tropical Depression over the Yellow Sea and started dissipating. In the next 24h, heavy rainfall may affect southern Republic of Korea. (GDACS, CMA, Local Media)

South Sudan – Refugees

• The number of refugees from South Sudan currently stands at 453 000 people and is expected to exceed 700 000 by end of October.

• In Ethiopia, the relocation of 55 000 individuals from two flooded camps in Gambella remains a priority. Gambella hosts the majority of the over 190 000 refugees from South Sudan.

• Uganda counts 125 996 refugees from the neighbouring country. Measures for the possibility of incoming Ebola cases are under development at the borders.

• Kenya has received 43 250 refugees since December 2013. During the week of 14-19 September, an average of 397 refugees were being registered daily, while the Kakuma camp has exceeded by 30 000 its hosting capacity of 150 000 individuals. (OCHA, UNHCR, IOM)

Nigeria – Conflict

• Another 50 young women were seized by Boko Haram insurgents in Adamawa state on 20 September, while young men are also being forcefully recruited.

• The militants are now in control of parts of Adamawa, while fierce battles are being contacted in Borno state. Hundreds of people have been killed and scores of villages and communities destroyed.

• The IDP are estimated to be up to 3.3 million. More than 70 000 have sought refuge in Niger and 49 000 in Cameroon. (ECHO)

Syria – Refugees

• 138 000 refugees from northern Syria have crossed into southern Turkey since 19 September.

• Reports from local sources indicate that most of the population of the northern Aleppo town of Kobane has left it, as fighting between ISIL and Kurdish forces is affecting approx. 400 000 people in the governorate.

• Further population displacement can expected in the northern and eastern Syria areas controlled by ISIL and other armed opposition groups. (ECHO)

Iraq – Conflict/Refugees

• Nearly 103 000 Iraqi refugees have sought registration with the UNHCR in Turkey, with thousands more already in the country, but yet to come for registration.

• In Jordan, the daily average of registered Iraqi refugees has risen to 120 in August/September, with the total reaching 10 644 since the beginning of 2014. (UNHCR)

As of mid-September 2014 Abyei still does not have a local government or police force, despite the obligations of both the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the Government of the Republic of South Sudan (GRSS) to establish them as per the 20 June 2011 Addis Ababa agreement. At present, negotiations over the territory’s future are at a total standstill. The Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC)—the body with political and administrative oversight in the territory—has not met since the assassination of the former paramount chief of the Ngok Dinka, Kuol Deng Kuol, on 4 May 2013 by a Missiriya man involved in a standoff with the UN Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) convoy accompanying the chief. Kuol’s death destroyed what remained of the already fragile ties between the Missiriya and the Ngok Dinka, and contributed to the continuing impasse in negotiations. With both governments’ attention firmly focused on their respective countries’ internal conflicts, the issue of Abyei has effectively been shelved.

The GoS insists that the establishment of a joint local administration, as mandated by the 20 June 2011 agreement, is a precondition for talks on Abyei’s future. However, since the Ngok Dinka conducted a unilateral referendum in October 2013—which saw the community vote overwhelmingly to join South Sudan—they have been unwilling to commit to anything other than immediate political negotiations. The Ngok Dinka’s political leadership fears that the establishment of a joint administration would be unacceptable to the community—which has already expressed its desire to join South Sudan and sees no need for further negotiations—and would lead to the indefinite deferral of a political resolution to the Abyei crisis. The previous joint administration, which ended when the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) invaded the territory in 2011, did not manage to resolve a basic disagreement between the GoS and GRSS over the territory’s political future.

AJOC is currently not functional. Kuol Monyluak, the head of Abyei’s administration, has stated that until the Missiriya apologize for Kuol Deng Kuol’s assassination and the full inquiry into his death is released, relations between the two groups will not be restored. Nevertheless, on 2 September 2014 Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir issued a decree replacing al-Khair al-Fahim, the Sudanese co-chair of AJOC, with Hassan Ali Nimr. The move comes amid criticism of Fahim by the Missiriya, who feel abandoned by the GoS and have recently been joining Sudanese rebel groups, including the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), in increasing numbers. Nimr was West Kordofan’s agriculture minister before his appointment. More importantly, he is a member of the family of Mukhtar Babu Nimr, one of the most powerful Missiriya leaders, and his appointment should be seen as an attempt to placate the Missiriya, at a time when the GoS can ill afford to lose their support. Mukhtar Babu Nimr issued a statement on 11 September approving Ali Nimr’s appointment and calling on the two governments to form a local administration and police force in Abyei. This appointment, however, is unlikely to substantively change the situation on the ground, where a fundamental disagreement remains over the Abyei Protocol.

In the Abyei Protocol of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended Sudan’s 22-year second civil war, Abyei was scheduled to have a referendum on whether it would rejoin the southern states of Sudan (now South Sudan). The referendum never took place because of disagreements over who was eligible to vote. The GoS rejected a more recent proposal made by the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel on 21 September 2012 for a referendum in the territory. The Ngok Dinka and the GRSS insist that it is the Ngok Dinka who must decide the territory’s future, and that the transhumant Missiriya are not eligible to vote. The GoS will not allow a referendum without Missiriya participation and the Missiriya will not accept any political developments in Abyei that would see the area joining South Sudan, because they fear that this would mean the loss of access to grazing land that is vital to their way of life.

It was Ngok Dinka frustration with this impasse that led the community to hold a referendum in October 2013. Subsequently, the Ngok Dinka’s political leadership mounted a campaign—so far unsuccessful—to obtain international and South Sudanese recognition of the referendum. On 27 July 2014 the heads of the nine Ngok Dinka chiefdoms announced that they would lobby the GRSS to formally recognize the referendum, but their efforts are unlikely to be successful. The GRSS did not initially recognize the referendum because it feared this would destabilize its relationship with the GoS, and these fears are even more acute today. Since December 2013 SAF has only given modest assistance to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-in-Opposition (SPLA-IO). If relations between the GoS and the GRSS were to worsen, this could lead to further SAF support for the SPLA-IO. The GRSS also recognizes that even if it were to accept the result of the October referendum, without the agreement of the GoS and the Missiriya Abyei would not be able to join South Sudan without military conflict between SAF and the SPLA.

The GoS’s position on Abyei is also partly determined by developments in its own civil war. With the Missiriya joining JEM and the SPLA-North, the GoS is unwilling to make any compromises that might antagonize the community. Its current strategy is to put political pressure on the GRSS, in the hope that, given the latter’s precarious position in South Sudan, it might compromise over Abyei. The latest statement in this political battle was made on 7 September, when Sudan’s National Election Commission announced that Abyei would be included as a constituency for the 2015 Sudanese elections, along with Halayeb, a contested area on the Egypt–Sudan border. The speaker of the South Sudanese parliament, Magok Rundial, condemned this development on 11 September and said it contravened the agreements made by the two governments over the territory. Kuol Monyluak, the head of the GRSS-backed Abyei administration, stated that the territory would not take part in the elections, because it had already voted to be part of South Sudan. Without Ngok Dinka agreement, organizing an election in the territory would not be viable. Instead, the inclusion of Abyei as a Sudanese constituency for the 2015 elections is only the latest in a series of rhetorical-political moves by the GoS to contest the legitimacy of the Ngok Dinka’s referendum and the GRSS-backed institutions in the territory.

The GRSS is in a difficult situation. It is unable to formally recognize a referendum that was widely criticized by the international community, but continues to support the Ngok Dinka political leadership and maintains that Abyei must join South Sudan. GRSS support to Abyei is largely practical and economic. President Salva Kiir donated 12 vehicles to the Ngok Dinka leadership in July 2014 and the GRSS transferred SSP 24 million (USD 5.3 million) to the Abyei administration in order to pay civil servants in the territory. On 18 August 2014 the South Sudanese Ministry of Health publicly committed to rebuilding Abyei’s hospital and training the area’s medical staff. Along with this economic support, the GRSS continues to insist that Abyei belongs to the Ngok Dinka. On 24 July the South Sudanese Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a statement demanding that the Missiriya leave Abyei and claiming that Abyei is the territory of the Ngok Dinka. Given current political tensions in South Sudan, the GRSS cannot risk alienating the Ngok Dinka, many of whom occupy important positions in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) hierarchy.

More assertive GRSS support for the Ngok Dinka is unlikely, however. With both the GoS and GRSS worried about antagonizing important political constituencies and unable to compromise, there is no possibility of a resolution to the crisis over Abyei’s political future in the foreseeable future.

In the territory SAF maintains 120–150 ‘oil police’ at Diffra, Abyei’s sole remaining oil field, despite several UN Security Council resolutions asking the force to withdraw. The oil police detained vehicles bringing water well-drilling equipment into Abyei in mid-June 2014, in violation of the Status of Forces Agreement that the GoS signed guaranteeing contractors’ freedom of movement in the territory. UNISFA also reports occasional SPLA incursions into southern Abyei, with 20 soldiers sighted near Anthony on 12 May and an attempted robbery at a market in Agok on 20 July carried out by SPLA soldiers based in Unity state. On 13 September SPLA deserters set up illegal road blocks in the south of Abyei and attempted to extort taxes from passing traffic. These incursions are not part of an SPLA strategy and instead arise from the erratic movement of semi-autonomous troops. Such incursions point to the possibility of a resurrection of second civil war era practices, in which soldiers, largely without salary, subsist on predatory taxation and raiding.

It is now the height of the rainy season in Abyei. Some 75,000 Missiriya have already moved north, with some 25,000 pastoralists remaining in the northern areas of the territory, partly due to the late onset of the rains in West Kordofan. As is traditional, the end of the grazing season has seen a number of Missiriya cattle raids, as the northern pastoralists seek to augment their herds. These raids have been more fractious than in recent years due to the total breakdown in relations between the Missiriya and Ngok Dinka. The Missiriya now only graze in Abyei under UNISFA escort. The fact that Missiriya grazing does not depend on Ngok Dinka assent—as in previous years—lessens the Missiriya’s need to maintain good relations with Ngok Dinka host communities. On 18 May two Ngok Dinka were killed in Leu (21 km east of Abyei town), during a feud over raiding. On 25 May Missiriya raiders stole 158 goats and sheep from around Dungop. UNISFA subsequently recovered most of the livestock from around Goli, in northern Abyei. On 4 June 300 head of livestock were stolen from near Rumameer; UNISFA again recovered the majority of the livestock. At 1.30 a.m. on 14 June Missiriya raiders killed four Ngok Dinka and stole 52 head of livestock from outside Abyei town. The difficult rainy season conditions meant that UNISFA were unable to recover the livestock or locate the raiders. On 16 July Missiriya raiders killed five civilians and stole some 800 head of livestock near Wunroc, about 4 km to the south-west of Abyei town. A UNISFA patrol that responded to the raid came under fire from the Missiriya near Nyincor. Around 150 head of livestock were retrieved, but the raiders could not be found.

The Ngok Dinka claim that SAF backed these raids: Bulabek Deng Kuol, the paramount chief of the Ngok Dinka, claimed that the 14 June raid was carried out by fighters wearing SAF uniforms. Deng Biong Mijak, the SPLM representative responsible for Abyei, claimed that the 16 July attack was carried out by a combination of the Missiriya and Thomas Thiel’s Southern Sudan Unity Movement. Thiel is a Twic Dinka much hated in Abyei. He fought together with SAF in South Kordofan during the second civil war and was responsible for some of the violence in Abyei in 2008, when an altercation between SAF and the SPLA led to the destruction of Abyei town.

UNISFA has not confirmed SAF involvement in the attacks. SAF has armed and sponsored Missiriya forces on multiple occasions over the last decade, but its degree of involvement in recent clashes cannot be established. However, the Missiriya raided locations south of Abyei town during a period of the migratory season in which the vast majority of pastoralists were around Goli in the north of Abyei or already in West Kordofan, suggesting that these were not simply end of grazing seasons raids, but planned attempts to destabilize Abyei. At the least, they demonstrate the total deterioration of relations between the Missiriya and Ngok Dinka.

While UNISFA has been moderately successful in recovering livestock, its ability to act as a police force is limited by the rainy season, which renders many roads impassable. Furthermore, UNISFA was never intended to be a police force, but, given that the mandated local police force has not been established, the peacekeeping operation has found itself forced to undertake duties it is ill-equipped to carry out.

On 29 May 2014 the UN Security Council renewed UNISFA’s mandate until 15 October. As of the end of July the force had 4,088 soldiers in the territory. The force is currently adopting a rainy season deployment, with peacekeepers at temporary operating bases in Dokura, Abyei town, and Banton. With the reactivation of the Joint Border and Verification Monitoring Mission (JBVMM) in June, UNISFA will find itself with additional duties, because it will be again involved in verifying the demilitarized zone between Sudan and South Sudan that was suspended after the GRSS withdrew from the JBVMM in November 2013. To facilitate UNISFA’s work, the UN Mine Action Service cleared the road between Gokk Machar in Northern Bahr al-Ghazal state (one of two operative JBVMM bases) and Abyei town.

With the majority of the Missiriya now gone from Abyei and the rainy season at its height, it is likely that the coming months will see fewer clashes in the Abyei area. Tensions are likely to rise again in November and December with the onset of the dry season and the beginning of the Missiriya migration into Abyei and South Sudan. UNISFA’s capacity to ensure a peaceful migration will be tested by the knock-on effects of South Sudan’s internal conflict on the territory. The Missiriya currently cannot access land in Unity state normally used by them, which will lead to increased pressure on grazing land in Abyei. Also, about 6,500 people displaced by South Sudan’s conflict have fled to Abyei, which puts additional pressure on scarce land resources. While the next few months are likely to see a diminution of tension on the ground in Abyei, the fundamental political impasse in the territory looks set to continue.

JUBA – In the wake of a new food security analysis announcing improvements in South Sudan, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), which has provided food assistance to more than 2.5 million people in the country since the start of the year, is warning that the outlook remains grim for early 2015, especially in conflict affected states.

The provisional results of the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis released on Tuesday found that the food security situation has stabilised because of a significant humanitarian response coupled with normal rainfall and good conditions for growing crops. The seasonal improvements are expected to continue through the end of the year, particularly in areas not affected by the conflict. But the report warns that food security may deteriorate sharply early next year as their food stocks run out.

“Food security is improving, which is good news, but we are not out of the woods yet,” said Joyce Luma, WFP South Sudan Country Director. “The situation remains fragile, and a hunger catastrophe will continue to be a threat well into next year, especially if fighting continues. It is absolutely critical to sustain the humanitarian effort.”

The IPC analysis was conducted by food security and humanitarian assessment specialists from a number of aid and development agencies, along with technical experts from the South Sudanese government.

According to the IPC analysis, the number of people in Crisis and Emergency – phases three and four on a five-point scale – has dropped to 1.5 million from 3.9 million, and famine is not predicted anywhere in South Sudan in the next three months. The nutrition situation remains dire, with the prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) above emergency thresholds of 15 percent in most of the country.

The analysis indicates that food security will again deteriorate sharply in early 2015 without humanitarian relief, as people consume the last of their harvests and remaining livestock to meet their basic food needs. The outlook from January to March is of great concern, with 2.5 million people projected to be in the Crisis or Emergency phases, including nearly half of the populations in the conflict affected states of Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity.

Humanitarian agencies have mounted a major relief effort in response to the crisis in South Sudan. WFP has used airlifts, airdrops, trucks and barges to deliver food and nutrition supplies for large-scale distributions.

In remote areas, joint emergency response teams – include staff from WFP, UNICEF, other UN agencies and NGO partners – are providing a full package of food, nutrition & livelihood assistance along with emergency health and protection services. Agencies are also working together to support civilians sheltering in UN-protected camps where conditions are difficult.

The need for humanitarian relief continues through the end of the year, and efforts must increase early next year to help people rebuild livelihoods, and to prevent a dramatic deterioration of food security and malnutrition in 2015. This includes beginning to pre-position food stocks when and where possible during the dry season.

“Donor support has allowed us to provide life-saving assistance so far, but we must not relent in our efforts, and we do need more resources to do that,” Luma said.

WFP has a funding shortfall of US$345 million to continue its essential work in South Sudan for the next six months.

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food in emergencies and working with communities to build resilience. In 2013, WFP assisted more than 80 million people.

Follow us on Twitter @wfp_media and @wfp_africa

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
George Fominyen, WFP/Juba, Mob. +211 922 465 247
Challiss McDonough, WFP/Nairobi, Tel. +254 20 762 2179, Mob. +254 707 722 104

South Sudan’s food insecurity crisis hasn’t worsened to the point of famine, but the threat still looms large with meagre crops potentially only delaying life-threatening hunger.

The latest analysis of South Sudan’s food security by the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) found the availability of and access to food hasn’t deteriorated to the point of famine, even in some of the regions hit hardest by recent conflict and floods. But famine is a long-term condition that could still loom over the world’s youngest nation if October’s crops are much smaller than in previous years. The IPC report credited ongoing humanitarian assistance with averting a worse situation.

The fighting that has plagued the country since December prevented farmers from planting seeds or forced them off their land after planting. Severe floods during the rainy season have exacerbated the problem, and conditions may potentially worsen early next year when the small volume of harvest runs out, long before next year’s harvest.

World Vision South Sudan Program Director Perry Mansfield said even if there were some crops to harvest in October, the four million South Sudanese facing food insecurity were still in very real need, while the United Nations has warned that 50,000 children may die by 2015.

“When we get distracted by language and trying to define a problem in abstract percentages we can forget that every night more people than the population of the city of Los Angeles go to sleep hungry,” Mr Mansfield said.

“Among them are children, pregnant women and the elderly, and it’s tempting to think everything will be fine because we haven’t reached famine conditions, but these people are in crisis and if we act early and act fast we can save lives.“

A famine is declared when at least 20 per cent of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope; acute malnutrition rates exceed 30 per cent; and the death rate exceeds two people per day for every 10,000.

Mr Mansfield said it is a race against time to help people re-establish their livelihoods and means of production before those sobering conditions are met.

“South Sudan needs peace, it needs all parties to the conflict to stop fighting, it needs to allow aid workers and relief supplies unimpeded access – and it needs the world to care enough to step in now, before we see a repeat of the 260,000 dead in the 2011 Somalia famine,” Mr Mansfield said. “More of whom died before famine was even declared than after.”

World Vision has been carrying out regular food distributions across the worst hit states, but continued fighting jeopardises humanitarian access and can make delivery of aid to those who need it most uncertain.

“Hunger can be a slow-burning enemy,” Mr Mansfield said. “It can outlast violence and instability, and take a long time to claim its victims. The only way to counter it is to ensure stable and constant food availability as soon as possible.”

World Vision can provide one person with two weeks worth of food for $US22.

For more information and interview requests, please call +447889 631613

(Juba, 24 September 2014) United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations are launching the planning for the 2015 aid operation in South Sudan at the beginning of October. The planning is to take place in close collaboration with South Sudanese people and institutions and authorities at the local, state and national levels in order to help inform the aid community’s response to the ongoing crisis.

“South Sudan is home to one of the world’s largest aid operations, and the enormous needs we are seeing today are likely to persist into 2015,” said Toby Lanzer, the Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan. “We look forward to working closely with national and local authorities, civil society organizations and conflict-affected men, women and children of South Sudan to make sure that the aid operation is tailored to meet the most acute needs on the ground.”

Nine months into the conflict, close to 1.8 million people have been uprooted from their homes, including over 450,000 people who have fled to neighbouring countries. 2.5 million people are projected to be severely food insecure between January and March 2015, and malnutrition threatens the lives of tens of thousands of children. So far this year, aid agencies have reached over 3 million people, many in remote and hard-to-reach areas.

“To get the response right in a crisis of this magnitude, consultation is key,” continued Mr. Lanzer. “The people of South Sudan know best what they need to get through this crisis, and we will reach out and do all we can to make sure that their perspectives are included in every stage of the planning for our work next year.”  For more information, contact:

Tapiwa Gomo | Head of Communications, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in South Sudan | gomo@un.org | +211 (0) 922406079 Amanda Weyler | Reporting Officer, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in South Sudan | weylera@un.org | +211 (0) 922473115 To download the Crisis Response Plan, visit www.unocha.org/south-sudan OCHA press releases are available at www.unocha.org/south-sudan Facebook: UNOCHA SouthSudan | Twitter @OCHASouthSudan | Twitter @tobylanzer

24 September 2014 – The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights said today that gross violations committed by all parties to the conflict in South Sudan have declined but the number of civilians forced to flee the violence now nears 2 million “with no likelihood that people will return to their homes soon.”

Referring to the damaging impact of the conflict on human rights across the country, including gross violations committed by all parties to the conflict, such as extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, rape, other forms of sexual violence, and attacks on hospitals and UN facilities, Flavia Pansieri noted that the scale and severity of reported violations had declined compared to the first months of the conflict.

“However, civilians have continued to bear the brunt of the ongoing armed conflict and of their leaders’ failure to stop the fighting,” she said in her remarks to a panel discussion on South Sudan held by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Both the South Sudan Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition have continued to mobilize forces and amass weapons in an effort to consolidate their respective power bases, she said.

“The numbers of civilians displaced across and from South Sudan has continued to rise, with no likelihood that people will return to their homes soon,” she said. “Since the conflict began in December 2013, some 1.5 million people have been internally displaced inside the country and a reported 400,000 people have sought refuge in neighbouring Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and the Sudan.”

Ms. Pansieri also reported the country is experiencing extreme food insecurity and facing a possible famine.

Yesterday, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said the combined efforts of the agency, the World Food Programme (WFP) and Mercy Corps have helped to pull 2 million people back from the brink of famine and severe food insecurity in South Sudan.

“This progress, however, is fragile, partial, temporary and expensive. Despite current short-term improvements, 1.5 million people are projected to remain severely food insecure until the end of 2014, which is a 50 per cent increase from December 2013,” FAO said in a news release.

Last month, the UN declared that the South Sudan aid operation is the biggest of any single country, “but that it still falls far short in the face of overwhelming needs,” Ms. Pansieri said.

And the reports of killings and wounding of civilians by all parties to the armed conflict and other armed groups have continued unabated, she said.

The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has opened its gates to civilians who fled the violence. Around 100,000 internally displaced persons are now seeking shelter in Protection of Civilians sites within UNMISS compounds – an entirely unprecedented influx in the history of the UN, which presents the Mission with unique challenges.

The Deputy High Commissioner recommended that more needs to be done to protect civilians and to ensure accountability for crimes and human rights violations.

“Up to now, neither the Government nor the [opposition] SPLM/A-IO has demonstrated any real interest in ensuring accountability for widespread violations and abuses committed in the course of the conflict,” she said.

She urged the international community to put pressure on the country’s leaders to prevent further violations by forces under their command and to make it clear that anyone committing crimes and human rights violations will be arrested and prosecuted.

Reduced number of people in Crisis and Emergency by 1.7m due to September harvest

Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Cooperatives and Rural Development of Republic of South Sudan

The Government of the Republic of South Sudan announces the results of the latest IPC analysis for September 2014.

The latest IPC analysis indicates that food security across the country has begun improving and is expected to continue on a positive trend through December 2014, following seasonal patterns, particularly in Greater Bahr el-Ghazal and Greater Equatoria regions.

Normal rainfall, good crop planting and performance, and the start of the green harvest in late August have had a positive effect on the seasonal availability of crops, livestock products, fish, and wild foods. However, in Greater Upper Nile, due to displacement, planting has been reduced below normal size, which may impact overall cereal production and could lead to fast stock depletion.

While there are significant improvements since May when there were rumors of a looming famine, the current overall food security situation is much better than a typical year at harvest time.

According to the IPC Analysis conducted in South Sudan earlier this month, only 1.5 million people are projected to remain food insecure through December 2014, with two-thirds of them in the Greater Upper Nile. If new shocks occur, their resilience into 2015 may be weakened. Further, by March 2015, more than 2.5 million people might become food insecure of the current situation is not reversed.

The Government, based on the results of the latest IPC Analysis, would like to clearly state that there is no famine in South Sudan.