Aid workers in South Sudan are struggling to deliver food and medical aid to at least 44,000 civilians in Mundri, Western Equatoria state amid numerous reports of starvation deaths in the area.
Mundri has seen heavy clashes since May 2015 between SPLA, local militia, and SPLA-In Opposition forces, with aid groups only able to reach the area sporadically due to insecurity.
“People are dying of hunger,” Pastor Felix Zara Kurai, who is in Mundri, told Radio Tamazuj. “Children have died of hunger and there were elderly people who also died of hunger.”
Earlier this week, the head of the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commision (JMEC), which is monitoring South Sudan’s peace deal, said his teams recently found people “starving to death” in Mundri.
Pastor Zara said many hungry people are concentrated in Mundri town itself.
“I can tell you that the people inside Mundri according to [the relief and rehabilitation commission] can reach 44,000,” he said. “All of them have the problem of food,” he said.
Despite the dire situation, aid groups have had little access to Mundri town, which has an airstrip and is connected by road to both Western Equatoria state capital Yambio and the national capital Juba where hundreds of relief organizations are based.
Zara said the Juba-Mundri road is closed, and called on the national parliament to intervene to reopen the road so aid agencies can access the hungry people.
Numerous aid groups told Radio Tamazuj that continued violence or road attacks have prevented them from reaching Mundri in recent months.
“Humanitarian operations have been hampered by ongoing insecurity,” said Guiomar Pau Sole, spokesperson for the UN’s Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Sole said aid groups are seeking safety assurances from armed groups in the area, but did not specify which sides have not granted safe passage to relief workers.
The United Nations peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) can provide armed protection to aid workers trying to reach Mundri, and are helping organize an aid convoy from Yambio, according to spokesperson Ariane Quentier.
But Quentier added that South Sudanese security forces have restricted peacekeepers’ movements around Mundri, where UNMISS has a base with about 150 soldiers. UNMISS also has bases in Juba and Yambio with more armed personnel.
“The starving population in Mundri is of great concern for the Mission… UNMISS stands ready to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance including by providing force protection to humanitarian stakeholders when requested,” Quentier said.
“UNMISS is however facing challenges in moving to all the areas of concern due to the lack of freedom of movement – restricted by the South Sudan Security Forces – especially on the Mundri-Gariya axis as well as access to the south of Gariya.”
In December, SPLA forces prevented a JMEC monitoring team from reaching areas in Mundri where the government was accused of attacking people with helicopter gunships.
There have only been four deliveries of aid since October, according to aid groups speaking to Radio Tamazuj. Currently there is a distribution of shelter materials to people in Mundri West whose homes were burnt in fighting, according to OCHA’s Sole.
‘If you fall sick now, no medicines’
The last food delivery was over a month ago reaching 10,000 people in Lui in Mundri East and Kotobi in Mundri West, but there are an estimated 50,000 people in greater Mundri who need relief, Sole said.
Locals in Mundri West say the food they received has already run out.
“Honestly the food given is little especially if you are 20 persons in the family, so about five kilo of flour is not enough for such a number of people, so that’s the situation we are in,” said a man who identified himself as Dakada, speaking to Radio Tamazuj.
Lack of medical care is a concern too. Drugs were last supplied in Mundri West in late November when medical charity MSF reached two medical facilities which were short on medicine and therapeutic food. MSF traveled by road from Yambio, a spokesperson for the group said.
Pastor Zara said most hospitals and health centers in Mundri were destroyed during the clashes in May between local militia and SPLA forces, and that people lack clean water too.
“There are some pregnant women who gave birth and died immediately due to lack of food and health services,” the pastor said.
“If you fall sick now, no medicines,” said Dakada. “The health condition of people here is very weak especially among children.”
No government response
Dakada complained that the government is not doing enough to address hunger or disease.
“We want the government to help the elderly people with food and medicines, so this is what we want, but we do not know whether the government is thinking about that or not,” he said. “A woman has recently collapsed and left a child, but the government did nothing.”
Dakada said authorities sent some officials to Mundri in the last few days, but those officials did not bring relief.
Joseph Ngere, appointed governor of the proposed ‘Amadi’ state which includes greater Mundri, could not confirm the reports of starvation in the area. He suggested people from the area could get by without enough food.
“People in Amadi state and some areas have higher survival mechanisms,” Ngere said in a report by Eye Radio. “But we don’t deny that people are suffering.”
“Maybe JMEC has its source of information from somewhere,” he added, referring to the monitoring team report which said people were starving to death. “We are still investigating that and we will find out exactly where people are starving to death.”
Reports of fighting
Meanwhile, both the government and the SPLA-In Opposition rebels traded accusations earlier this week about clashes there.
Independent observers have yet to confirm these allegations. Quentier said UNMISS would not comment on ceasefire violations and referred journalists to JMEC.
JMEC’s ceasefire monitors, called CTSAMM, said they have heard reports of fighting and that one of their teams in Yambio “will soon begin investigations into the reported events.”
CSTAMM said a team which reached Mundri earlier will release a report soon as well.