The South Sudanese Pochalla region near the border with Ethiopia is experiencing severe hunger, Radio Tamazuj has learnt.
The area in the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA) has run out of basic food items, the residents say.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj on Saturday, several Pochalla residents said they were going hungry because food items were scarce and the few available were unaffordable to most of them.
Zechariah Othow Alung said many people were surviving on wild fruits and vegetables.
“Pochalla has no road connection to other parts of our country and gets its supplies only through the Ethiopia route,” he said, adding that 1kg flour and sugar were going for more than SSP5,000, if available, an amount that was beyond the reach of most residents.
“Our appeal is that aid agencies should come to our rescue because the situation is really challenging,” he said.
A businessman, Ibrahim Yahya Adam, said the distressing situation was being exacerbated by the poor roads and the lack of hard currency.
“These food items which are getting depleted were last supplied in February and early April, when the road was good. Now the road is inaccessible and we can’t get hard currency,” he said.
“Of course the prices are high. Transporting a 50kg bag of a food item costs SSP30,000 and we also struggle to get hard currency.”
Pochalla South County Commissioner Othow Okoti appealed for humanitarian intervention, citing the deplorable living conditions.
“In our two counties of Pochalla North and Pochalla South, civilians are dependent on wild fruits and vegetables, because we suffered a crop failure due to climatic change,” said Okoti.
“We are speaking of a population of 80,000 people going hungry and we appeal to partners to intervene by conducting assessments and providing food items,” he added.