Two legislators who represent Eastern Equatoria State in the Transitional National Legislative Assembly (TNLA) have sounded an alarm over hunger in the Imehejek Administrative Area of Lopa-Lafon County which they said has forced over 90 households to flee the area.
Victor Omuho Ohidei, an SPLM lawmaker who represents Lopa-Lafon County, informed the house that two payams in his area have been hit hard by hunger as a result of poor rainfall that has forced the people to flee to Torit, Juba and that others crossed to the neighboring Kenya and Uganda.
“The critically affected villages that have been deserted by the people are in Arihilo Payam. The cause of this acute hunger is the prolonged drought in the area which has destroyed all crops. Our people cultivated in February on top of the hills but the drought started in March through April and destroyed all the fields,” he said. “When some rain came in May, they cultivated groundnuts, sorghum, and other crops but these were also later scorched by the sun that has been blazing since June to date. There is no rain so all the crops are destroyed and people have started running away.”
According to Omuho, starvation has so far claimed six lives, mainly the elderly who cannot walk long distances to search for wild foods in the mountains.
“The majority of the people have gone to the mountain to look for wild foods, yams, and other edible leaves but we lost six old people and a child in Lofirang who could not walk,” he explained. “Their death is attributed to hunger because they were completely emaciated and they could not resist diseases.”
“UNMISS went there in July to assess the situation and they ended up in central and southern Lopit and never reached the areas that are heavily affected by hunger,” Omuho added.
For her part, Naomi Hisiaha Thomas, a SPLM-IO parliamentarian representing the Imehejek area, called for an urgent humanitarian intervention and said women and children are the most affected by the long drought.
“The people of Lopit are dying of hunger and the old and pregnant women mothers are the most affected. As the representative of the people, I want to urge the humanitarian community to come to the rescue of women, lactating mothers, and the children,” she said. “The situation is dire. I got several calls and last week I was informed that four young girls aged 14 were trying to flee to Torit but unfortunately one of them failed to make it. The rest left that young girl in the bush. Luckily, she was later rescued.”
“This is just one in many cases and I believe there are many that we do not have information about,” Hisiaha added.
Meanwhile, TNLA Speaker Jemma Nunu Kumba instructed the lawmakers to visit the affected areas, write a comprehensive report, present it to the house, and inform the minister of humanitarian affairs about the situation.