Khartoum: Ongoing clashes along South Sudan's Nile River have cut off critical humanitarian access to over 60,000 malnourished children in the country’s northeast, United Nations agencies reported Thursday.
According to a joint statement by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), supplies intended for Upper Nile State—an area suffering from severe malnutrition—are expected to run out by the end of the month unless aid deliveries resume.
“Children are always the most vulnerable in times of crisis,” warned Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP’s country director in South Sudan. “If we can’t get nutrition assistance through, the levels of malnutrition in already fragile regions could drastically worsen.”
South Sudan’s geography and limited infrastructure make river transport along the Nile vital for moving supplies, especially during the rainy season when roads become impassable. However, the river route has become perilous due to ongoing armed conflict.
While the agencies did not specify which groups were responsible for blocking the aid route, government forces have been engaged in battles with the White Army, an ethnic Nuer militia, in regions near the Nile since March. These clashes have also triggered the arrest of First Vice President Riek Machar and escalated tensions within the fragile government, raising fears of a renewed civil war.
Last month, a convoy of barges carrying 1,000 metric tonnes of food and nutrition items was forced to turn back due to rising insecurity. Aid agencies opted not to pre-position resources in unstable areas to avoid looting and violence.
UNICEF’s country representative, Obia Achieng, called the situation dire: “We’ve had to make the extremely difficult decision to hold back life-saving supplies because we can’t guarantee they will safely reach the children who need them most.”
