South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Benjamin Takpiny
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that ongoing flooding and intensified rainfall affected the delivery of essential humanitarian supplies to some 500,000 people since September this year.
“In September, humanitarian access worsened due to ongoing flooding and intensified rainfall. Fifteen major supply routes were impassable, impacting the delivery of essential humanitarian supplies to some 500,000 people and increasing reliance on more costly air and river transport,” OCHA said in it’s humanitarian access snapshot released on Friday.
It disclosed that there were 33 humanitarian access incidents reported across the country, undermining the safe, free and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian assistance.
OCHA noted that access challenges included physical access constraints, violence against humanitarian personnel and assets, bureaucratic impediments and operational interference.
It added that the security situation along the Juba-Nimule road, following an attack on a passenger bus, has posed a significant threat to the supply of goods to Juba, adding that the southerly route serves as a lifeline for South Sudan, connecting the country to Uganda and East African markets, and supplying essential food and non-food items across the country’s markets.
OCHA said that the abduction of humanitarian staff for ransom in Central Equatoria State forced Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) to suspend health services in Yei County, leaving the population with reduced access to health care, including community-based activities in remote areas.
It also said that incidents of ambush, robbery, harassment and theft were also reported in the Equatorias and in Abyei, adding that bureaucratic impediments continued to impact access to aid.
The UN agency noted that notable examples of impediments to humanitarian access include multiple checkpoints along the Nile and Sobat rivers, harassment of transport operators, and interference with recruitment processes, boat seizures and the denial of access to quarrying sites in Malakal.
