The governor of South Sudan’s Gogrial State Abraham Gum Makuac has announced a hunger situation in his newly established state, saying hunger caused dozens of families to leave their homes to Sudan in search of food.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Tuesday, Governor Makuac said he received reports that most of citizens living near the Sudan borders and Gogrial West County in particular crossed to Sudan.
However, the state official said that he didn’t have accurate numbers of the number of citizens who fled to Sudan due to hunger. His remarks come after a similar declaration by the governor of Aweil State.
Returnees from Abyei
Separately, Governor Makuac said that Gogrial citizens who previously fled to Abyei area due to inter-communal violence last year have returned back to their homes.
He pointed out that the citizens are suffering due to a lack of food and other services in the area. He noted that they held a meeting yesterday with UN agencies operating in the area to ask them to provide aid to the needy people as soon as possible.
Makuac also called upon the national government in Juba to intervene to save the lives of the citizens.
Gogrial State is one of 28 states created by President Salva Kiir by decree but challenged as unconstitutional by a coalition of opposition parties.
Monitors of the peace agreement have called the creation of the 28 states a “violation” of the peace agreement. Salva Kiir says the 28 states are the demand of the people.