Bishop Erkolano Lodu Tombe, President of Caritas South Sudan and Bishop of Yei, will be in Rome from 21 March for a meeting of South Sudan experts to discuss the worsening crisis in his country where famine has been declared in the midst of civil war. “We anticipate very difficult times ahead in the coming ...
Parts of South Sudan face famine due to an ongoing civil war, collapse of law and order and drought. William Okot de Toby is the managing director of a diocesan Caritas, Caritas Torit, in the south-eastern part of the country. He answered our questions.
Following the declaration of famine in Unity State, South Sudan this week, the country’s Catholic bishops have issued a powerful pastoral letter condemning the country’s civil war and labelling the famine as “man-made”.
Famine declared in South Sudan with 275,000 children severely malnourished and more than 5 million people urgently in need of food and agricultural assistance.
Italy is opening a humanitarian corridor for refugees from Eritrea, South Sudan and Somalia with the support of Caritas.
When the guns started firing again in Juba on the 7th July it brought to an end the fragile ceasefire and forced the displacement of 34,000 people from around Juba. Many sought refuge in established UN camps or church compounds.
Millions of people in South Sudan are in desperate need of aid as the country faces its worst food crisis since independence in 2011.
By September 2015, 7.5 million people – nearly two in every three people in South Sudan were going hungry. Half of those people were suffering from severe hunger. Caritas is launching a €2.1 million euro emergency appeal for funds that will help alleviate hunger for the entirety of 2016.
Unlike many other conflict zones around the world, Abyei is not filled with non-governmental organizations providing assistance to the population. Many NGOs are afraid that working in Abyei will anger government officials in Khartoum, who could then deny them access to Darfur and other troubled areas.
Along South Sudan’s troubled southern border, Caritas is leveraging the organizing done by local self-defense militias into helping local farmers grow food.