Revealed: Plight of children in the world's newest country - pictures show human rights abuses and starvation in South Sudan
These
photographs show the scenes of sheer poverty in a remote part of the
world’s newest country where children are deeply malnourished and
surrounded by violence every single day.
The
pictures from Leer in South Sudan show starving children, burnt-down
homes and youngsters playing with dangerous military hardware.
They
highlight the plight of the country where more than 1.3million people
have been forced to flee their homes because of widespread violence.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the
Security Council on Monday that he visited South Sudan this month in
order to 'sound the alarm about the violence and the risk of
catastrophic famine'
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that
if the fighting continues, half of South Sudan's 12 million people will
be displaced, starving or dead by the end of the year
More than 1.3million people have been forced to
flee their homes in South Sudan because of widespread violence which
started in December
Many
have spent months living in an area referred to in the country as ‘the
bush’ - the untamed wild where dirty water and disease lie in wait.
U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council on Monday that
he visited South Sudan this month in order to ‘sound the alarm about the
violence and the risk of catastrophic famine’.
He
warned that if the fighting continues, half of South Sudan's 12 million
people will be displaced, starving or dead by the end of the year.
People who have fled the town in recent months are only just starting to return to their homes, many of which are now burnt-out or empty.
People who have fled the town in recent months are only just starting to return to their homes, many of which are now burnt-out or empty.
With
the rain season upon the country, many families have been left without a
roof over their head and have been forced to either stay with
neighbours or live out in the rain.
Sarah
Maynard, a project coordinator with the Doctors Without Borders
organisation which is trying to help those most vulnerable, said: ‘To be
living in a place where you don't even have a roof is awful.
‘With the rain coming it will only get worse. People need help here.’
Villagers stand by recently-delivered aid from
the Doctors Without Borders aid group which has started feeding severely
malnourished children in the country
People who have fled the town of Leer in South
Sudan in recent months are only just starting to return to their homes,
many of which are now burnt-out or empty
With the rain season upon the country, many
families have been left without a roof over their head and have been
forced to either stay with neighbours or live out in the rain. Pictured:
The remains of a destroyed marketplace in Leer, South Sudan
Doctors
Without Borders has started offering support and help to severely
malnourished children again after the aid group's hospital was destroyed
in violence that has been ripping apart the country since December.
The
group re-opened its clinic doors last Thursday to a flood of residents
seeking help for malaria, measles, diarrhoea, respiratory tract
infections - and hunger. The group screened 600 children and found 50
faced the most dire level of malnutrition.
Nyagaaw
Biel Dhoar brought two-year-old son Jacob Rit Wadaar to the clinic in
the hopes that the medical personnel could save him. She tried to keep
breastfeeding him as he lay dying in her arms, but he died the next
morning.
Government
troops led by President Salva Kiir and rebel forces loyal to former
Vice President Riek Machar battled each other on Sunday, only two days
after the pair met in Ethiopia to sign a cease-fire deal, the second
peace treaty of the conflict. The first one fell apart soon after it was
signed.
Doctors Without Borders has started offering
support and help to severely malnourished children again after the aid
group's hospital was destroyed in violence that has been ripping apart
the country since December
Thiyang Dayiem Kuiy, 91, smokes a pipe as she
rests after cultivating her land in Nyal county, in oil-rich Unity
State, South Sudan
John Kawai Lam, eight, plays with a
non-functioning automatic rifle that he found buried in the soil when he
and his mother were cultivating the land in Nyal county, South Sudan
Government troops led by President Salva Kiir
and rebel forces loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar battled each
other on Sunday, only two days after the pair met in Ethiopia to sign a
cease-fire deal, the second peace treaty of the conflict
World leaders like the U.N.
secretary-general and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry both worked to
get Kiir and Machar to agree to the latest cease-fire because the aid
community says that if residents don't return home this month and plant
crops before the rain properly sets in, the country will have no food to
eat.
‘Hunger
and malnutrition are already widespread. If this planting window is
missed, there will be a real risk of famine. That is why we are calling
for 30 days of tranquillity backed by both sides. I am troubled by the
accusations by both sides of breaches of the cease-fire already,’ Ban
told the Security Council.
He
said South Sudan still needs £465million for aid operations this year. A
donor conference is being held in Norway in one week.
Violence has upturned the rhythm of daily life in the country.
Myabani Nhial, a mother of 10, traded food staples like sorghum before the fighting broke out.
World leaders like the U.N. secretary-general
and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry both worked to get Kiir and
Machar to agree to the latest cease-fire because if residents don't
return home this month and plant crops before the rain properly sets in,
the country will have no food to eat
Children have been playing on military hardware left in Leer, including an anti-aircraft gun, pictured
Although
her home and grain store has been reduced to a burned-out shell, she
keeps returning to it in the hope of finding something that might have
escaped the looting fighters and their fires.
‘This
was my home,’ she said. 'It was burned by the soldiers.They killed
three of my children and they took all the sorghum and whatever we had
in our house.
‘Now we are left to die without any food, water or shelter. They have taken away everything.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2627422/Revealed-Plight-children-worlds-newest-country-pictures-human-rights-abuses-starvation-South-Sudan.html#ixzz31lTHezTe
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