Thousands of the displaced people in Mareng town, the headquarters of Duk County in Jonglei State, have not received any food aid for months since arriving there, local officials said.
A representative of the displaced community, Matiop Chuol, told Radio Tamazuj Wednesday that about 5000 people did not have access to basic services including food and medicines since arriving at the settlement in Mareng from surrounding villages and counties in April.
“There are 5278 people here at this settlement. Those who arrived from Nuer areas like Nyirol and Ayod fled after losing their livelihoods to inter-communal violence and they are 3000,” Matiop said. “Others are residents of Duk fleeing floods in low lands and swampy areas.”
He pointed out that they are in dire need of food aid.
“We only depend on fish since May and an assessment was done but there has been no humanitarian intervention and we lack food, medicines, and utensils,” he said.
Meanwhile, John Chatim Jok, the county commissioner, called on humanitarian agencies to urgently come to the aid of the displaced people.
“As a county, we are unable to help these people who arrived at the headquarters from Ayod, Lou areas, and other parts of Duk,” he said. “Since they came, they were only provided shelters and there have been no food or health care services so we are calling for an emergency intervention.”
For his part, the Duk County Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) coordinator, Bol Anei, confirmed that a needs assessment was conducted in July and that the displaced have since then been waiting for food aid.
“An assessment was done by partners on the ground here in July and those people lack food, medicines, good water, shelters, and schools for children but nothing has arrived to them so far,” he said. “So, we are calling for assistance because they are really suffering.”
Large swaths of Jonglei State have been cut off by the floods since 2020, leaving residents without food aid. In January, officials and inhabitants of Duk County complained that they had gone hungry for months and called for intervention.