Hunger-Related Deaths in Torit Region

Just before leaving Torit a week ago, I helped the bishop to prepare the following announcement/appeal for help. As I was departing the news of two additional deaths was reported.

HUNGER ALERT: INCREASINGLY SEVERE FOOD SHORTAGES CLAIM THE LIVES OF 14 PEOPLE IN EASTERN EQUATORIA STATE AND THREATEN THE LIVES OF MANY MORE. IMMEDIATE ACTION IS URGENTLY NEEDED TO PREVENT ADDITIONAL DEATHS.

Approximately six months ago residents in different counties of Eastern Equatoria State began to express concerns about the imminent threat of food shortages and hunger to government and church officials.

During his visit to the communities of Magwi, Obo and Parajok in Magwi County in February, the governor heard reports that inhabitants of that sector were already beginning to experience hunger. The same concerns were expressed during his visit to the Lafon/Lopit area the following month. Although his visit there was in response to the killings of several individuals in a local dispute, the residents of this area took the opportunity to convey their growing concerns about the threat of hunger.

During the past month, on two different occasions, the governor visited communities in two different parts of Ikotos County, and there received even more alarming news. In June at Chukudum Bishop Akio Johnson Mutek of the Catholic Diocese of Torit heard complaints about the absence of rain. Just a few days prior a group of Evangelical missionaries working with the African Inland Mission had to flee a nearby Didinga village after being blamed for the lack of rainfall. In Kapoeta there have been reports of Toposa from outlying villages coming into town in search of government and NGO food supplies, only to find that they have been depleted.

In the past two weeks, 14 hunger-related deaths have been reported in the communities of Napwajore, Lodwara, Mohina, Ramula, Lokorohore, Chorokol and Lodwara in Ikotos County. The case of Chorokol and Lodwara is particularly tragic. Of seven elderly people in the advanced stages of malnutrition, only one man had the strength to walk to the nearest police post and receive life-saving assistance. The remaining six died from lack of food. Apparently the other villagers had gone out to dig for coconut tree fibers and aduhat, a further indication of the extremity of the situation. Several other villagers are reported to be in severe condition.

Local, state and national governments, the UN – particularly the World Food Program, and other NGOs involved in food distribution are all urgently called upon to mobilize their personnel and resources for a rapid response to this daily deteriorating situation. Investigation teams must be sent at once into areas where food shortages and hunger have been reported to verify the extent of need, and immediately following an action plan to distribute food supplies must be developed and implemented. Failure to take immediate action will result in the deaths of additional Sudanese in affected areas, particularly among the population most at risk: elderly and small children.