The humanitarian community in South Sudan has launched an appeal
for $1.72 billion to forestall the growing crisis in the war-torn
country.
The humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan,
Mr Alain Noude’hou, said the cash would provide critical assistance to
more than six million people affected by the conflict, displacement,
hunger and a deteriorating economy.
Mr made the appeal at the launch of South Sudan’s humanitarian response plan of action for 2018 in Juba Wednesday.
“There
is a growing need for humanitarian assistance with displacement, food
insecurity, malnutrition, violence and economic decline taking a toll on
health, safety and livelihoods of people in need,” he said.
Continuous conflict
The
South Sudan conflict has forced about 4 million people to flee their
homes, including nearly 1.9 million internally displaced people and
about 2.1 million who have fled to neighbouring countries.
The
humanitarian coordinator further said the continuous conflict in some
parts of the country was accelerating the rates of hunger and
malnutrition.
He called for a collective effort and commitment from donors and other stakeholders in alleviating the suffering of the people.
“With our collective and coordinated efforts, we will be able to effectively provide much needed assistance to the people.
"Children will remain in school. Many more will survive diseases,” he said.
According
to the South Sudan Integrated Security Phase Classification (IPC), an
earlier than normal start of the lean season would result in an
estimated 5.1 million (48 per cent of the total population) being
classified as severely food insecure between January and March in 2018.
Nutrition
surveys recently released by aid agencies also cited that approximately
half of all South Sudanese children under five experienced acute
malnutrition.
Human rights violations
Meanwhile,
President Salva Kiir's administration has apologised for gross human
rights violations committed against civilians by some state officials
and institutions during the four years of fighting between government
forces and rebels.
The president's legal affairs
adviser, Mr Lawrence Korbandy, noted that some individuals in the Kiir
administration had failed to respect the law, and were hence responsible
for the prevalence of human rights abuses in the country.
He made the remarks while marking the International Human Rights Day in Juba on Monday.
The
former human rights commissioner cautioned senior government officials
and institutions to exercise maximum respect of the law, adding that the
struggle for the independence was for freedom and human rights.
“Reminding
ourselves where we came from, our struggle was for human rights, if we
derailed from that; we would like to apologise to our people,” he said.
Human
rights agencies have in the past documented several gross violations in
South Sudan, with some of the reports holding the government
accountable.
Amnesty International in August accused the government-backed militia group known as Mathiang Anyoor for pillage in Equatoria region during the last year’s violence.
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