Akobo, in the eastern region of Jonglei, is now the "hungriest place on earth," according to aid officials, after a new survey showed that 46% of children under five are malnourished - 15% severely so. The town's crumbling, bullet-scarred hospital is treating some of the most serious cases.
A dozen painfully thin children lay on beds, some in obvious distress as their mothers tried to feed them. The United Nations' senior humanitarian official in South Sudan called the malnutrition figures "astonishing… and extraordinary." The levels of malnutrition were three times higher than the standard UN threshold for an emergency.
"The situation is not good," said Bernadette Tata, a nurse in Akobo hospital. "But we can cope."
She also described a situation:
A few minutes earlier, a gaunt woman called Nadulchan had come into the hospital with her three-year-old son, Dwal.
She sat on a bed, trying to support his lolling head, as he appeared to drift out of consciousness.
"There's nothing to eat," she said quietly. "I lost two children in the fighting with the hunger. I pray I don't lose this one."
Hunger is a familiar enemy across much of this vast, impoverished and insecure region. The World Food Programme estimates that nearly half the population will need food aid at some point this year. The situation in Akobo is simply the most extreme example.
Makeshift shelters:
Save the Children, one of the organizations already working in Akobo, warned of the challenges ahead.
"This is a very testing year," conceded Goi Jooyul Yol, the commissioner of Akobo County, who was sent here in 2009 to tackle the crisis following a series of massacres.
He said he had only received about a tenth of his expected budget from the government, and warned that a continuation of the drought would be "unbearable and unthinkable."
The rule of law was not implemented. Hungry people will get a gun in order to get a cow to eat. It is a matter of survival."
On the dusty outskirts of Akobo, families remain camped in makeshift shelters, waiting for food aid, rain and the opportunity to return to their villages.
Nyadir Muon, 40, said her family had fled their homes a year ago when they were attacked by members of a rival community, who abducted their children and stole cattle.
The Bottom Line:
Friends let me tell you one thing, the total world population is 6,814,200,000 millions and African continent population is just 973 millions. Even if each and every individual give just a grain per day all the Africans can have a sumptuous feast. Is that not true?
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