The World Food Programme’s main food warehouse in South Sudan’s capital Juba has been looted. This news comes in the wake of days of fighting in the city that calmed on Tuesday.
The warehouse which is located on the western edge of Juba was broken into sometime this week. Thousands of people including army officers were seen carrying stolen food items.
The looted items were seen all over the Gudele 2 market. Military vehicles were seen loaded with the stolen goods.
WFP confirmed the theft in a report on its website but said the its own personnel had not yet accessed the warehouse to asses the full extent of the losses. The UN agency said they requested UNMISS peacekeepers to do an assessment of the warehouse on Wednesday. They reported extensive looting of foot.
“The main warehouse in the city run by the United Nations World Food Programme WFP, which held one month’s worth of life-saving food and nutrition supplies for 220,000 people before the fighting erupted, has been looted,” WFP said on their website.
Regardless of the theft, Country Director Joyce Luma noted that WFP has already provided food assistance to thousands of displaced people sheltering at UN peacekeeping bases, using stocks from a smaller warehouse in another part of town.
The warehouse on the west side of Juba served as WFP’s main logistical hub inside of South Sudan, and was used to supply WFP operations in the rest of the country.
Luma said, “We hope that the parties responsible for this devastating loss will show their humanity and return the relief supplies so they can be used to assist thousands of innocent civilians who have been caught up in this brutal conflict.”
File photo: An official at another WFP warehouse looted in 2014