EES Government Appeals For Emergency Food Aid The Eastern Equatoria State, EES, Governor appealed to United Nations Agencies and other Humanitarian Organizations including International NGOs early this week, to urgently intervene in the ongoing food crisis in the State by providing a five-month food relief. 24 March 2011 EES Government Appeals For Emergency Food Aid EES Governor, Brig. Gen. Lobong (Centre) in a meeting with UN Officials, Torit [©Gurtong]
By Peter Lokale Nakimangole TORIT, 23rd March, 2011 [Gurtong] – The Eastern Equatoria State, EES, Governor has appealed to United Nations Agencies and other Humanitarian Organizations including International Non-Governmental Organizations early this week, to urgently intervene in the ongoing food crisis in the State by providing a five-month food relief. While addressing a security coordination meeting in his office on Tuesday, Brigadier General Louis Lobong Lojore said that, given the deteriorating food crisis in the entire region of Eastern Equatoria, he was devoid of alternatives other than making a quick appeal to humanitarian agencies for immediate food donation to salvage the situation from getting out of hand. The meeting was attended by all heads of UN Agencies; UNDP, UNHCR, WFP, UNMIS, UN Security, GTZ, UN-FAO, PACT Sudan and USAID including a representative from UN Security Council, INGOs’ representatives, two State Advisors, State Public Prosecutor, EES acting police commissioner, Deputy Governor among others. The Governor said that the budget the State government was launching, seeks for humanitarian assistance from any well-wisher or humanitarian agencies on food aid in order to avert the ongoing looming food insecurity in the State. “The State population has continued to tolerate the appalling misery as food is getting over,” lamented the Governor. Last month, the Eastern Equatoria State’s council of ministers held an extra-ordinary meeting at State Secretariat, launching an appeal to UN agencies following a fact-finding mission of UN- Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, and UN-World Food Organization Crop & Food Assessment Mission to Southern Sudan which revealed that the State was badly affected with 354,830 people severely affected by food insecurity. The State Government attributed the shortage on a number of factors such as green crops pest attack by grasshoppers at fields in Magwi zone and a large number of birds destroying crops in Kapoeta South, Kapoeta North and Kapoeta East County which was also affected by drought. The pests also attacked crops in the whole of Budi County while part of it especially Kimotong corridor had crops destroyed by wild birds. Meanwhile, severe floods in Pari areas of Lafon/Lopa including parts of Torit particularly Bur & Kudo wiped out farms and finally wildfires blazing in Magwi, Ikotos, Lafon and Budi Counties, the EES Agriculture Minister, Jerome Surur Gama explained. According to Surur, the people affected become most vulnerable and are in dire need of immediate assistance in order to minimize the hunger season expected to end by late June as new harvest are expected between late July and August. Deputy EES Governor, Nartisio Loluke Manir told the UN officials that this was the first time the state has launched such a unique appeal for emergency humanitarian food aid to arrest the threatening humanitarian misfortune in the state, While appreciating efforts taken by the State authority over the issue, head of Resident Coordinator Support Office under UNMIS, Mohamed Khan expressed readiness to intervene. Meanwhile, Winnie Babihuga who serves as a UNMIS coordinator in EES explained that in such a situation, the UN will treat it with a quick response under ‘quick impact projects’ whose timeline is usually 3 months. A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ representative, Kenyi Gidon, pledged to urgently share the information with the Headquarters in Juba for quick humanitarian intervention. Kenyi described the condition the State faces as unique and that requires a swift positive reaction. UNHCR is a United Nations Agency whose mandate is to chiefly protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself, and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. Its headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland. Posted in: Home -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
