Read at : IRIN
SUDAN: Increasing hunger could fuel conflict in south
POCHALLA, 16 November 2009 (IRIN) – An increasing number of people in Southern Sudan cannot find enough to eat or adequate pasture and water for their livestock, raising fears of conflict between communities over grazing lands, local leaders warned.
“Where there was peace, there was no rain and then where there were good rains, there was insecurity,” Kuol Manyang, governor of Jonglei State, said.
His counterpart from Upper Nile State, Gutlauk Deng Garang, warned that hunger would force pastoralist cattle herders to move their animals, sharply increasing the likelihood of clashes with rival ethnic groups.
“We expect the cattle herders to start moving soon, and then it is expected [that there will] be conflict between the Lou and the Jikany Nuer,” Garang told IRIN recently. Conflict between the Shilluk and Dinka communities had added to food insecurity, he said.
More than 2,000 people have died and about 350,000 have been displaced by violence across Southern Sudan since January, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The World Food Programme (WFP), which began airdropping food in the area on 4 November, estimates that 1.2 million people are already facing serious food insecurity in Southern Sudan.
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