Six months after the birth of South Sudan—the world’s newest independent country—a series of emergencies are unfolding that require urgent humanitarian responses. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has scaled up into full emergency mode in Upper Nile State to respond to the sudden influx of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict in neighboring Sudan; while around the town of Agok in Northern Bahr al Ghazal State, where displaced and resident populations are facing the specter of a food shortage, MSF has launched a preventive supplementary feeding program for children at risk of becoming malnourished in the months ahead.
The 22-year war that ended in 2005 left South Sudan’s healthcare provision in a perilous state that could be described as an emergency in its own right. Now, in the contested area of Abyei between the two Sudans, fresh conflict has pushed the local population to escape southwards, resulting in an estimated 100,000 displaced people. Other conflicts across the border in Sudan—particularly in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states—have forced tens of thousands of refugees to flee across the border over the past month, and they are still coming. The burden of these multiple situations is heavy, and aid organizations need to move onto an emergency-response footing. Read more
Photo: South Sudan 2011 © Avril Benoit/MSF
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