UN emergency relief coordinator, Valerie Amos (R) and Unscospecial envoy
for peace and reconciliation, Forest Whittaker give a press conference
about situation in South Sudan.
In Summary
UN emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos said
she had witnessed “first hand the continuing widespread devastation and
destruction” and an “untenable level of suffering” after returning from a
three-day visit to South Sudan.
Over 2.5 million South Sudanese are on the brink
of famine, with the civil war likely to intensify, the United Nations
said Monday as it launched a $1.8 billion aid appeal.
UN emergency relief coordinator Valerie Amos said
she had witnessed “first hand the continuing widespread devastation and
destruction” and an “untenable level of suffering” after returning from a
three-day visit to South Sudan.
“We need the fighting to stop and peace restored,”
she told an international donor conference in the Kenyan capital
Nairobi, where $529 million was pledged.
“The conflict has had a devastating impact on
South Sudan but if peace doesn’t come quickly, it will also have a
significant regional impact,” she warned. After seven failed ceasefires,
the UN said in its appeal for cash the “most likely planning scenario”
was that violence “intensifies” in the dry season when military vehicles
can move around more easily. The UN also said it expected that peace
agreements “may not effectively or immediately end hostilities.”
Top US official Anne C. Richard said that no
conflict around the world today filled Washington with as “much
frustration and despair” as this “man-made” crisis.
Richard, US Assistant Secretary of State for
Refugees, said some areas were “teetering on the brink of famine”, and
that people “continue to suffer and die unnecessarily because their
leaders are unwilling to do what it takes to restore peace.”
Washington, a key backer of South Sudan’s
independence in 2011, pledged a further $273 million in aid, but was
also deeply critical of the warring leaders.
“This aid can only be effective if South Sudan’s
leaders end their intransigence and promote the well-being of the
people, rather than their own rivalries and political machinations,” she
said.
Over half the country’s 12 million people need
aid, according to the UN, which is also sheltering some 100,000
civilians trapped inside UN camps ringed with barbed wire, too terrified
to venture out for fear of being killed.
The UN estimates that 2.5 million people are in a state of emergency or crisis, steps just short of famine.
Almost two million have been forced from their homes and 500,000 of them have fled abroad to neighbouring countries. (AFP)
President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar
have been set a March 5 deadline to strike a final peace agreement, but
previous deadlines have been repeatedly ignored despite the threat of
sanctions.
“South Sudan’s leaders need to show their people and the world they are committed to securing that peace,” said Amos.
Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said that
“the violation of the cessation of hostilities agreement will no longer
be tolerated,” and warned of the “real risk that the situation will
continue to deteriorate before it gets better.”
In response, South Sudan’s Foreign Minister
Barnaba Marial Benjamin insisted the government was “committed to pursue
peace”, and that the next round of faltering peace talks would resume
on February 19.
US actor Forest Whitaker, a UN peace envoy who
joined Amos in visiting South Sudan, said he had met with communities
that had “witnessed unspeakable atrocities”.
“The needs are immense and human suffering is unbearably real,” he said.
The UN is also asking for a further $810 million for the 500,000 South Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries.
No overall death toll for the war has been kept by
the government, rebels or the United Nations, but the International
Crisis Group says it estimates that at least 50,000 people have been
killed. (AFP)
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