The race to avert famine in flood-hit South Sudan

Men work to build a flood barrier to protect their houses from the rising water of the White Nile River in South Khartoum August 26, 2013. Heavy rains and flood in the country have affected the lives and properties of some 320,000 people, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) last week. REUTERS/Stringer (SUDAN - Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER)

Men work to build a flood barrier to protect their houses from the rising water of the White Nile River in South Khartoum August 26, 2013. Heavy rains and flood in the country have affected the lives and properties of some 320,000 people, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) last week. REUTERS/Stringer (SUDAN - Tags: ENVIRONMENT DISASTER)

Published Nov 5, 2020

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INTERNATIONAL - The South Sudanese government and humanitarian agencies are rushing to avert a famine by distributing seeds to farmer who saw their crops washed away in recent flooding. Angela Ukomadu reports.

The worst rains in living memory have left farmer Alexandra Karama, like many others in South Sudan, with nothing.

"My house collapsed, my groundnuts have all been swept away by the water. My farmland is still under water, you can go and see it. Nothing is left, no sorghum, no groundnuts, nothing."

Now the government and humanitarian organizations are in a race to distribute seeds for replanting and avert a famine.

Like much of east Africa, South Sudan has suffered unusually prolonged torrential rains over the last year that have displaced hundreds of thousands.

The western town of Mundri, where Karama has her smallholding, is one of the worst affected areas.

There on Tuesday (November 3) supplies were being distributed - and the minister of humanitarian affair and disaster management, Peter Mayen Majongdit, said the government and humanitarian agents need to move quickly.

"We visited the distribution of seeds and crops in order that people could be able to cultivate back despite the fact that many of the crops had already been destroyed."

Safari Djumapili of the UN's humanitarian aid body said aid is being distributed in Mundri where around 22,000 people have been affected by the flooding.

But he said the efforts are being hampered because roads to the area are impassable.

More than 600,000 people have fled their homes since July, the UN said, after the rains caused the River Nile to burst its banks.

REUTERS

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