More than 700,000 people are currently affected by severe flooding in South Sudan, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which has warned that the death toll is rising every day in this country, one of the poorest in the world.
“These floods have destroyed or significantly damaged homes, crops and crucial infrastructure, disrupting the education system and health services and increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.”OCHA listed in its situation update on Thursday, September 5.
South Sudan is facing the worst flooding it has seen in decades, according to humanitarian organisations. As of 5 September, “These floods affected more than 710,000 people in 30 of 78 counties” of the country, according to the OCHA report.
A country undermined by power struggles
According to the latter, “Access to affected people remains a major obstacle, with many roads impassable and rains and flooding isolating entire communities of residents.”.
A 2018 peace deal ended five years of deadly civil war in South Sudan, but the young country, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, remains plagued by power struggles, corruption and faces a dire humanitarian situation.
Under the 2018 peace deal, the country is led by a national unity government that includes rivals Salva Kiir, president, and Riek Machar, first vice president, with the mission of carrying out a ” transition “ ending with the elections.
But progress in key areas of the deal – drafting a constitution, creating a unified army, etc. – remains scant and the government is also facing a cruel lack of resources. It lost its main source of income after a pipeline allowing it to export its oil was damaged by fighting in neighbouring Sudan, where a war has left tens of thousands dead since April 2023.
