People are eating leaves to stay alive in Jonglei’s Twic East county as humanitarian conditions worsen for thousands of residents who have run out of food, local authorities say.
Twic East Commissioner Dau Akoi Jurkuch told Radio Tamazuj yesterday that at least 115,000 people, including conflict-displaced persons from neighboring Duk County, are in dire conditions after they ran out of food.
“The government has absolutely failed to provide food to the needy people in the county,” he said.
Dau said that some citizens survive only by eating leaves of trees and drinking milk, as stores of food prepositiond by NGOs are empty.
The commissioner said there has been no agriculture this year by local citizens due to the uncertainty caused by fighting. He said the road linking Twic East with Bor has been cut off by rains, making delivery of food near impossible.
Dau said prices of goods in the county have skyrocketed since roads became impassable.
Last week, the commissioner said that flooding forced 960 families to flee their homes in Twic East and that they moved to higher ground at the headquarters of Pakeer payam.
File photo
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