Starving Sudanese arriving in the southern town of Wau are too weak to escape drought and civil war, the United Nations world Food Programme (WFP) reported in August this year. About 700 people were reported to be flooding the town on a daily basis. Many of them in horrific physical condition having walked for weeks eating the few greens and wild foods they were able to get their hands on.

Most had no possessions, arriving severely malnourished and empty handed with only the clothes they were wearing hanging from their thin, frail bodies. Some of the people were so thin and malnourished that they did not even have energy to stand in lines for food, let alone being able to cook it.

Makeshift kitchens had to be set up around the town so that the people could receive two cooked meals a day until they could get strong enough to look after themselves.

One Aduta Aboim, her parents and two brothers walked miles in search of food. It did not save them. When the family reached Ajiep, in South Sudan’s famine stricken Bahel Ghazal, the feeding centre run by International charity, Medicins Sans Frontiers was already full. Aduta told the story of how the family had eaten leaves which turned out to be poisonous. When she found them they were all dead.

At least 7,000 malnourished people, naked or in rags were camped outside with nothing to protect them from rain. It became the job of the Sudan Relief Rehabilitation Association to go out into the rain to select the most severely malnourished children, some of whom had to be carried to the centre.

“There are so many children arriving here every day” said one nurse. “If I did not just focus on the work in front of me I would just break down.” Emaciated children with distended stomachs sit or lie mostly naked, under tarpaulins. They are often accompanied by their mothers in the MSF therapeutic centre which takes care of the worst cases. Around them hundreds of women and children lie on the ground, waiting for the next food handout.

Among the hardest hit are members of the Dinka tribe of Bahr el Ghazal. “They have seen hanger before but this time it is worse,” remarked one WFP staff. Many of the careworn people have just returned from swamps to which they fled after a series of cattle raids by the government backed popular defence forces. “The Government uses hunger as a weapon- they want to make sure we cannot cultivate” said James Kwal, Commissioner for Twic county which includes Turalei.

Every day is a struggle for survival. Some Dinka climb tamarind and palm trees to forage for fruits and leaves. Others return to the swamps to try to catch fish or gather water lily roots. “We get leaves and roots, pound them and cook them for a meal. They have a bad taste but it’s something to put in your stomach,” said Maror Rihan, from the nearby village of Wunrok. “For mature people it is alright but for mothers and children it is not enough.”

“The Sudanese shouldn't need food assistance. They have coping mechanisms that are simply amazing,” said Claude Jibidar, field coordinator WFP in south Sudan. “They know how to deal with floods, they know how to deal with drought, but what they cannot deal with is the war.” WFP claims it has since launched the biggest airdrop operation in its 35 year long history to reach more than two million people. Unfortunately unconfirmed reports say some of the food meant for the most needy has been stolen from some feeding centres by armed gangs controlled neither by the government nor by the rebels.

INSIDE:

Life in the Sudanese Refugee Camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Conditions in the War Torn Areas of Yei in Sudan

Plight of the Disabled in War Torn Areas of Sudan

Prisoners of war in the War Torn Areas of Yei

Repeated Attacks Make Adjumani Refugee Camp Insecure

The Role of Civil Society in Conflict Resolution

The Sudan Conflict: The Causes and the Attempts at Resolution

Famine Ravages South Sudan

A Standard of Achievement For all People to Aspire For Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The International Bill of Human Rights

SHRA ORGANISES A PERSONNEL TRAINING SEMINAR

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