Sixteen million people are on the brink of starvation in East Africa, and famine has already been declared in South Sudan – the first instance across the world in six years.
In South Sudan, people are eating leaves to stay alive, while in Somalia they are tying ropes around their stomachs to suppress their hunger.
In response to the unfolding crisis, the Disaster Emergency Committee’s (DEC) East Africa Crisis Appeal has reached £26 million.
But the worst could be yet to come. In South Sudan, 100,000 people are dying of starvation, driven by drought and conflict, while one million citizens are nearing starvation. The number of people in desperate need of food is expected to reach 5.5 million during the country’s lean season in July, when food stocks have depleted.
People are resorting to extreme measures to stay alive says Martin Ruppenthal, who works for charity Tearfund in South Sudan.
Anything “which gives them perhaps a bit of feeling that they have something in their stomach,” he says. But even plants are in short supply, as the civil war has displaced more than three million people, preventing them from growing crops.
Ethnic violence began in 2013 – South Sudan gained independence in 2011 – when President Salva Kiir, an ethnic Dinka, sacked vice President Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer. Around 50,000 people have died in the conflict and a peace deal has failed.
Crippled by drought and economy
The country’s crippled economy (the inflation rate was 370 per cent in January) is another obstacle to accessing food as people simply do not have the money.
It’s even worse for women.
“If there is food in the house and they have to prioritise, it’s given to children, it’s given to older people, it’s given to the husband,” says Ruppenthal. “Often women are last to get the food.”
Ruppenthal met 50-year-old Clememtina on Sunday, who had travelled to South Sudan’s capital Juba from the south.
“This lady had to flee with nothing. She lost her husband and son in the fighting. This woman has passed through so many traumas; persecution, losing her family, being hungry. This is nothing special. We have seen many people in a similar situation.”
The epicenter of the famine is in the northern part of the country, near the border with Sudan. This is also where fighting has been most intense.
The civil war is exacerbating the hunger situation. Conflict and road blocks mean aid groups are being prevented from accessing the most needy people.
Soldiers are hungry, too
“With the worsening economic situation, you have to understand as well that troops and soldiers aren’t being paid. You’ve got an increased criminality… because even the soldiers need to feed themselves and their family so will turn to [crime] in desperation,” says Ahmed Soliman, a research associate for the Africa Programme at Chatham House.
Around 7.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, many of whom have been displaced from their home. South Sudan, because of the conflict, is also the third largest refugee crisis in the world after Syria and Afghanistan.
Soliman sums up the extremity of the situation: “If you can imagine fleeing South Sudan and the humanitarian situation there by going to Darfur [western Sudan].”
The only solution to ending the suffering of the people in South Sudan, in terms of famine and conflict, is political. There has to be “some form of sustainable peace across South Sudan, otherwise no international aid can get through and millions could die,” says Paul Jackson, a professor of African politics, at the University of Birmingham.
“The real problem is that inputs for farmers (fertiliser) can’t get through, markets are not functioning and infrastructure is not maintained because of the conflict.
“At the same time, both sides [in the conflict] have targeted aid workers providing food aid, which has pushed all of these marginalised people into famine.”
Misconceptions about Africa
Appealing for help can be a greater challenge as Africa has to fight the misconception that famine is commonplace.
“Africa is a gigantic continent with over 40 countries and the variation is huge,” says Prof Jackson. “Some of those countries suffer from violence and famine and some don’t. There are areas that do suffer more than others – like the Horn of Africa – but whilst they exist partly on very marginal sub-Saharan land, the core problem is largely one of governance or politics,” he says, adding that the lack of international coverage of Africa can increase misconceptions about the continent.
“So far we have only hit the tip of the iceberg and there are several more people, around nine million, who could be subject to famine in an arc from South Sudan [through Somalia] to Yemen,” he adds.
Somalia facing starvation and cholera
A state of emergency has been declared in Somalia, with three years of drought leading to intense hunger, starvation and cholera. At least 26 people died of hunger in 36 hours, according to the federal government radio.
Around 185,000 children are suffering from acute malnutrition and more than six million people are in need of food and water, as well as assistance with health and sanitation.
If the suffering continues, there are fears of a repeat of the 2011 famine, when a quarter of a million people died.
While the drought means Somalis are facing water and food shortages, it also means their animals – their livelihood – are dying by the minute. Their source of milk and meat is disappearing, as it their option to sell the animals to buy their necessities.
An individual who may have once had 300 sheep, now will have 20 because of the drought, says Sadia Abdi Alin, Somalia’s Action Aid director.
The country is losing the backbone of its economy, she says.
“[People] are losing their confidence, their pride, their work. They don’t know how to beg, how to ask anybody else or have any other skills except looking after these animals. When they lose everything, they become vulnerable.”
The ‘ultimate sacrifice’
Abdi Alin has met people who have not eaten for days – including a grandmother in her eighties. She says she made the “ultimate sacrifice” to let her family take the grandchildren and animals to go in search of water, while she stayed behind in their rural village, too weak to travel. All of them risked dying if they had stayed together.
When Action Aid found her, she had tied a sheet around her stomach, hoping the tightness would quell her hunger – a very common method in Somalia, says Abdi Alin. But she was still too weak to say her name.
“She couldn’t hold her mouth together, her mouth was wide open.”
Action Aid gave her food and water and reunited her with some distant relatives. Her close family still have not returned. The elderly grandmother’s situation is by no means unique. Canab (not his real name) says his parents left five months ago with their animals to find water.
“I miss my mother a lot. I think about her every day. They say they will be back when it has rained,” says the 14-year-old who lives in a remote region of Somaliland, 40km from the Ethiopian border.
Cholera, from consuming contaminated food and drink, is also expanding its grip on Somalis, particularly for those in IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camps. Abdi Tari Ali, a doctor who works in Somalia, has never seen so many sick people.
“We’re completely overstretched. Children are the worst affected by the lack of food,” says Dr Tari Ali, who works for Trocaire, the Catholic international development charity’s sister organization.
Swollen and puffy
“You see straight away from their puffy faces, thin hair and swollen feet and bellies that they are malnourished. If you press down on the skin, you leave a dent. There is no elasticity left.”
“We have two challenges: cholera and hunger. If the long rains don’t come in April, it will be a catastrophe,” he adds.
The international response to East Africa has been too slow so far, particularly at a time when there have been other pressures and crises around the world, says Chatham House’s Soliman.
But if we act now, “we can prevent many more lives from being lost. It’s about implementation on the ground, as quick as possible.”
