The United Nations’ top humanitarian official said that South Sudan’s warring parties are once again setting up illegal roadblocks to extort money from aid workers at a time when South Sudan faces a looming hunger crisis

Speaking at a press conference today in Juba, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said these new roadblocks make delivery of lifesaving assistance including food difficult.

“We have 2.5 million people who urgently need help with food,” Amos said. “There are thousands of children who are suffering from malnutrition and the threat of hunger and disease is real.”

“We are also seeing a worrying trend, which is on the ground roadblocks are just being suddenly established and demands being made of humanitarian workers that they pay to enable the convoys to go through,” she continued.

“I've been told for example by some of our NGO colleagues that even if they have a letter that makes it clear that they have the right to proceed that they will come across people locally who will prevent them from proceeding,” she said.

The UN official said the roadblocks are set up “in a random way” in both government and opposition-held areas.

“The message needs to go very, very clearly from the command of the opposition groups on the ground but also the command of the government that this should not be happening,” Amos warned.

She said that in addition to threats of looting, humanitarians continue to fear kidnapping by armed groups.

Amos said she had no updates on the status of the two UN workers who remain missing after being abducted by gunmen at the government-controlled airstrip in Malakal, Upper Nile state last October.

“We do not know their whereabouts and we don’t know what has happened to them,” she said.

On 10 October, an armed group of 15 to 20 men in and out of uniform abducted three UN contractors at the Malakal airfield. Two were later released but a third remains missing.

Six days later, a WFP staff member was abducted by armed men at the same airfield while trying to board a UN flight. He remains missing.

Last week, two humanitarian workers were abducted by rebels and seven detained by government forces in a brief standoff in Jonglei state. All were later released.

Related:

Four abducted UN staff still held in South Sudan (23 Oct.)

Radio Tamazuj Photo: UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos speaks with actor Forest Whitaker and UNMISS humanitarian leader Toby Lanzer in Juba, 9 February 2015