Poverty worsens insecurity in South Sudan: UN

Poverty has worsened the security situation in South Sudan since the outbreak of conflict in 2013, largely being driven by deprivation in education, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said in a Friday report.

According to the UNDP National Human Development Report 2015 (HDR) which is the first of its kind for South Sudan, 89.3 percent of the population are multi-dimensionally poor and an additional 8.5 percent live near multi-dimensional poverty.

South Sudan has a population estimate of 10 million, according to the 2010 statistics by national bureau of statistics.

"The share of the population that was multi-dimensionally poor, adjusted by the intensity of the deprivations, was 0.551. In poverty head count, in intensity of deprivation and in the proportion in severe poverty, South Sudan fared worse than any of its neighbours even before the onset of conflict," the report says.

The report finds that the role of deprivation in education in overall poverty was the highest and that of health lowest in the country where children have a 25 percent chance of dying before age five.

UNDP Country Representative Balazs Horvath told reporters in Juba that the report focuses on the three most important things South Sudan is facing: peace, people and prosperity.

Oil dependent South Sudan has seen its production in key oil states of Unity and Upper Nile decline from 300,000 barrels a day to less than 160,000 bpd, meaning authorities have less revenue to spend, since oil accounts for 95 percent of revenues.

The conflict destroyed key oil infrastructure, leaving oil workers to be evacuated.

"The future we want for this country can't only be secured through handouts and humanitarian action alone. The scope of the report is a reflection of the need to invest in the medium to long-term, in the development potential of communities and people," Balazs observed.

Eugene Owusu, UN Deputy Special Representative in South Sudan, said the economy is in serious crisis, noting that the society is polarized and the delivery of public services is a serious challenge.

South Sudan devalued its local currency by 84 percent last year, leading to inflation with the Green back exchanging with the South Sudanese pound as high as SSP 32 from SSP 4.

Owusu explained that the peace process is more than transitional security arrangement.

Presidential Economic Advisor Aggrey Tisa said the key findings of the report will help Juba to measure its development indicators with international standards.

South Sudan has literacy of 27 percent of which 40 percent male while 15 percent women.

According to UNDP experts, conflict has deprived the populations in Upper Nile, Unity and other states of livelihoods, creating a humanitarian crisis as 4.6 million are faced with severe food insecurity. Endit