Rainy conditions hamper aid delivery to South Sudanese refugees
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Family in South Sudan
Heavy rains are affecting aid delivery to more than 160,000 refugees in South Sudan, the UN Humanitarian Affairs office (OCHA) reports.
OCHA says impassable road conditions meant several missions to Upper Nile and Unity states had to be called off.
The rainy season has added to the worsening humanitarian situation in South Sudan where nearly five million people—roughly half the population—risk food insecurity.
Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson in Geneva, on Thursday spoke to UN Radio about the challenges aid workers there are facing.
"We have also seen a growing influx of refugees into South Sudan from the north. In the beginning of the year we were expecting approximately 80,000; we are now looking at about 162,000 who have already arrived and we are planning for up to 265,000 refugees coming in. So it is a combination of things: it is general food insecurity, increased influx of refugees. On top of that we now have the rainy season which makes delivery of humanitarian aid very, very difficult." (Duration: 33″)
