El Niño deepens hunger in South Sudan

Geneva,: The World Food Programme, affiliated with the United Nations, has warned that the already worsening hunger crisis in South Sudan is growing more severe and perilous, amid continuing violence, extreme weather phenomena and shrinking aid, leaving millions of people exposed to acute food shortages.
Matthew Hollingworth, Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations at the World Food Programme, said at a press conference in Geneva: 'Conflict, displacement, economic hardship, climate shocks and the situation in neighbouring Sudan are converging to push millions of people into deeper vulnerability,' at a time when humanitarian resources have begun to run dry.
Hollingworth, during his recent visit to South Sudan last week, noted that some 7.8 million people — more than half the population — struggle daily to obtain enough food, while 2.2 million children and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women require urgent nutritional support.
He warned that another million people from the most vulnerable groups could lose access to life-saving food and nutritional assistance by next October if additional resources are not provided, stressing that the impact of a 'very powerful El Niño' has already become evident and direct in South Sudan, where the most fertile agricultural areas have been affected, crops damaged and harvests reduced by drought.
The regional effects of extreme weather phenomena are not confined to South Sudan, but extend also to neighbouring Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, leading to 'a greater impact on food security across the entire region,' according to Hollingworth.
It is worth noting that El Niño is a natural climate pattern that typically occurs every two to seven years, when the waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean in the central and eastern regions become warmer than usual, affecting rainfall patterns and temperatures across distances spanning thousands of miles. El Niño developed this year at a time when the oceans are already experiencing exceptionally high temperatures.
Antonio Guterres, the United Nations Secretary-General, said earlier this month that this phenomenon 'is growing before our eyes.' — AFP