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Restrictions, lack of flight clearances blocking aid to Upper Nile in South Sudan

Xinhua, August 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Restrictions put in place on the movement of barges from Bor to Malakal on River Nile, in South Sudan, as well as the lack of flight clearances to use the Malakal airport are threatening the aid operation in Upper Nile State, a UN spokesman said here Monday.

"The situation is dire for at least 65,000 people in Malakal and Wau Shilluk who are estimated to be affected by access and transport constraints, with humanitarian partners reporting shortages of medicine, fuel and water treatment chemicals," Stephane Dujarric, the UN spokesman said at a daily news briefing here, quoting the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

"Negotiations are taking place to ensure supplies are delivered to Upper Nile and to avert a further deterioration of the already dire situation," he said.

During his recent visit to South Sudan, the UN under-secretary- general for humanitarian affairs, Stephen O'Brien, called for rapid and unhindered access to provide assistance to conflict- affected communities.

O'Brien said that people need our help immediately, Dujarric said. "Families in desperate need are depending on aid to survive and humanitarian agencies need all possible help to reach them rapidly and safely."

At present, there is a humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, which officially declared independence on July 9, 2011, following a referendum in which around 99 percent of the southerners voted for its secession from Sudan.

South Sudan's civil war and violence started in mid-December 2013. Political efforts so far have failed to bring an end to the conflict.

In June and July, there was an escalation of violence in Unity and Upper Nile states, with heavy fighting forcing tens of thousands of people to flee to bushes and swamplands, to areas that are difficult to reach.

In view of the grave situation, the UN Security Council in early July stressed the need to reinvigorate the political process to address the crisis, and reiterated its commitment to designating sanctions against political and military leaders that threaten the peace security and stability of South Sudan. Endite