10 Feb 2012

GENEVA / WFP SOUTH SUDAN

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned Friday that time was running out for millions of hungry people in South Sudan. Returnees, poor harvests and ongoing conflict, combined with increasing fuel and food prices has created circumstances in which WFP predicts about “half the population of South Sudan” will be in a situation of severe food insecurity. CH UNTV / WFP

Posted at: February 10, 2012 3:54 pm

Duration: 03:14

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: GENEVA / WFP SOUTH SUDAN
TRT: 3.14
ORIGIN: CH UNTV / WFP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / NATS

DATELINE: 10 FEBRUARY 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND /  29 JANUARY 2012, PIBOR, AKOBO, SOUTH SUDAN

SHOTLIST:

10 FEBRUARY 2012, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations 
2. Wide shot, press room
3. SOUNDBITE (French) Gaelle Sevenier, Spokesperon, World Food Program (WFP): 
"WFP underlines the emergency of the situation and is launching a call for funding to fill in, to support our emergency operations because we have a funding deficit of (USD) $160 million. Then, we foresee that about five million South Sudanese will be in a situation of food insecurity, that's to say approximately half the population of South Sudan, including one million in a situation of severe food insecurity. This is why WFP is already planning to provide food assistance to 2.7 million people in 2012, knowing that we are getting ready to intensify our operations in case the situation gets even worse."

29 JANUARY 2012 - WFP-  JONGLEI STATE, PIBOR, SOUTH SUDAN

4. Pan left, food distribution
5. Tilt up, helping a woman lift a bag to her head
6. Tilt up, bags of fod aid
7. Wide shot, people cueing for food
8. Med shot, woman in cue
9. Med shot, hand holding food WFP food voucher
10. Med shot, mother with child on her back and other women and men cueing 
11. Close up, baby on his mothers back

29 JANUARY 2012 - WFP- JONGLEI STATE, AKOBO, SOUTH SUDAN

12. SOUNDBITE (English) Ramiro Lopes da Silva, Deputy Executive Director, World Food Program (WFP):
"The estimations from FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), Minister of Agriculture and ourselves is the country will have a food, cereal deficit of about 470 thousand tonnes this year, which is 60 percent higher than the food deficit last year. That is not only reflection of lower production than normal but also reflection of on one side increased numbers of South Sudanese, because of the returns from the north and refugees, South Sudanese refugees that were in third countries, but also a result of the disturbances in the Jonglei State and along the borders, which make like Akobo is the case where the populations lost what they harvested as a result of the conflicted."

29 JANUARY 2012 - WFP-  JONGLEI STATE, PIBOR, SOUTH SUDAN

13. Wide shot, people gathered around bags of food aid 
14. Med shot, woman looking ahead
15. Med shot, same woman resting on boxes of food aid 
16. Close up, elderly lady looking ahead
17. Wide shot, people sitting on ground waiting for their turn to pick up food aid
18. Med shot, men assisting a woman - putting food bag on her head
19. Wide shot, woman walking away with bag of food aid on her head

STORYLINE:

The World Food Program (WFP) warned Friday (10 Feb) that time was running out for millions of hungry people in South Sudan.

Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, WFP spokesperson Gaëlle Sévenier said the agency was already planning to provide food assistance to 2.7 million people in 2012.  The Rome based organization is now preparing for the situation to get worse.

Returnees, poor harvests and ongoing conflict, combined with increasing fuel and food prices has created circumstances in which WFP predicts about "half the population of South Sudan" will be in a situation of severe food insecurity.

In order to reach the 2.7 million vulnerable people with food assistance, WFP is seeking donor support to cover the current shortfall of US$160 million. If the situation deteriorated further, additional funding would be required.

On a recent visit to South Sudan (29 January), WFP's Deputy Executive Director Ramiro Lopes da Silva said that WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and South Sudan's Agriculture Ministry estimated that the country would have a food/cereal deficit of about "470 thousand tonnes this year" which according to the food program was 60 percent higher than the food deficit last year.

According to a joint report issued by WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the number of food-insecure people in the country jumped from 3.3 million in 2011 to 4.7 million in 2012. Of those, about one million are severely food insecure compared to 900,000 in 2011.

If conflict continues to force people from their homes and food prices keep rising, the number of people who are severely-food insecure could double, the report says.