'The hungriest place on Earth'

April 10, 2010

Droughts, tribal clashes lay waste to Akobo in south-eastern Sudan

Ruot Wiyual, two, collapsing on her bed in a hospital ward in Akobo, Sudan. A recent survey by aid groups found that almost 46 per cent of children in the region are malnourished. Most humanitarian agencies regard a rate of 15 per cent to be an emergency threshold. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

AKOBO (SUDAN): The United Nations calls this the 'hungriest place on Earth'. Some say the worst is yet to come.

In a hospital ward in the Akobo region of south-eastern Sudan, emaciated babies and young children bear the signs of hunger: exposed ribs and distended stomachs.

Outside, old villagers recline motionless in the shade, too frail to walk.

Two years of failed rains and tribal clashes have laid the foundation for Africa's newest humanitarian crisis. The World Food Programme quadrupled its assistance levels in this region from January to March.

International aid agencies, which are already feeding 80,000 people here, are bracing themselves for the worst. Even if spring rains materialise this year, the harvest will not come in until autumn.

'And if there is no rain, it will get worse,' said Dr Galiek Galou, one of three doctors at the hospital in this town on the border with Ethiopia.

Southern Sudan lies in a drought-prone belt of Africa, but the situation has been exacerbated by rising inter-tribal violence that claimed more than 2,000 lives last year. Because of the global financial meltdown, the government has fewer available resources.

The food crisis is also a legacy of a devastating north-south civil war of more than 21 years that left two million people dead and many more displaced. The conflict is separate from the war in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which began in 2003 and has killed 300,000.

The aid groups Save the Children and Medair have canvassed the Akobo community for the past week, searching for the hungriest children. They found 253 whom they classified as severely malnourished, meaning they will die without immediate intervention.

The children are enrolled in a feeding programme that relies primarily on fortified peanut butter. Another 200 severely malnourished children are being fed in a separate programme, said the UN's Dr Natalie Lewin.

A recent survey by Save the Children and Medair found that almost 46 per cent of children in the region are malnourished. Most humanitarian agencies regard a malnutrition rate of 15 per cent to be an emergency threshold, said Ms Lise Grande, the top UN official in southern Sudan.

'This year, 4.3 million people in southern Sudan will need some sort of food assistance,' Ms Grande said.

'That could be as much as nearly half of the population in the south. When you have that many people who need food, you can see the dimensions of the crisis.'

ASSOCIATED PRESS

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