- Title: South Sudan no longer classified as in famine - U.N.-backed report
- Date: 21st June 2017
- Summary: NAIROBI, KENYA (JUNE 21, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND SPOKESPERSON, JAMES ELDER, SAYING: "I think what is really key to remember is that the gains that have been made in that area that was famine declared in February, can be very very quickly be reversed. It is important to remember that livelihoods in South Sudan have been absolutely decimated, so right now the crisis continues for more than a million children. We see a thousand kids fleeing South Sudan every single day, they are crazy numbers, people overlook them. A thousand children every single day are fleeing from South Sudan into Uganda. So we fall back on the same thing that organisations like UNICEF have been saying for a long time, we need peace in that country, and we need access, and until those two things occur, children in that country continue to be on the cusp of an absolute catastrophe."
- Embargoed: 5th July 2017 12:44
- Keywords: famine South Sudan food aid packages airdrop displacement camp in Kenya. WFP
- Location: NAIROBI, KENYA / LEER, KOCH AND UNKNOWN LOCATION, SOUTH SUDAN
- City: NAIROBI, KENYA / LEER, KOCH AND UNKNOWN LOCATION, SOUTH SUDAN
- Country: South Sudan
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA0046M81XL3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: South Sudan is no longer classified as being in famine, although 45,000 people in country's Jonglei and Unity states are expected to remain in famine-like conditions and the situation is still critical, a U.N.-backed food security report said on Wednesday (June 21).
Regional spokesperson at United Nations Children's Fund, James Elder, said it was good news that should not be confused with an end to the crisis. He also said the gains that had been made in that area that was famine declared in February could be very quickly reversed.
An estimated 6 million people, half the population, are expected to be severely food insecure this month and next, up from 5.5 million in May, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report which was based on a survey by a working group including government and U.N. officials.
The report said there was no longer famine in counties in the north of the country where it was declared in February. However, there were concerns about another region in the country's east, bordering Ethiopia, that was once called Jonglei state.
Two years after emerging as an independent state, the oil-rich country was plunged into conflict in December 2013 as rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his then-vice president, Riek Machar, exploded into violence.
The conflict has triggered Africa's worst refugee crisis, with more than 3 million people fleeing their homes. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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