(Above) Residents of Yei town waiting for supplies from the World Food Programme last month.
A high-level delegation made up of UN personnel and other stakeholders made a one-day visit to Yei to investigate the situation caused by the country’s insecurity.
The delegation was in Yei last week to demonstrate solidarity and to try and fully understand the humanitarian challenges facing the residents.
“We decided to come to get a full understanding of the challenges that the people of Yei face,” said Owusu, who is also Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative.
He said the team wanted to work on developing ways of helping the people of Yei through the church and other aid agencies.
United States ambassador to South Sudan, Mary Catherine Phee, said the visit was also done to gather the suggestions of local leaders on ways of finding a solution to the current political crisis facing the country.
“Your friends and international community are concerned about the situation. We are also looking for your advice on how we can support you to reach a solution because everyone is concerned about the conflict,” she said.
The team met local church leaders, women leaders, and government officials.
The bishop of Yei Catholic diocese Erkolano Lodu Tombe, thanked the delegation for the visit, and said that people are still living in fear, as there has been little improvement in security in the town.
“They now face similar problems that crippled people must face. They are crippled. They unable to move freely and to do anything freely because there is fear that seems to…surround their lives,” he said.
According to a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) report released in September, some 100,000 people were trapped in Yei since fresh outbreak of clashes in in July in Juba, which led to rising insecurity in the country.
In November, aid agencies responded by giving food and non-food items to hundreds of people, which the assessment revealed was around 51,000. The World food Programme (WFP) distributed sorghum, yellow split peas and cooking oil.
“The distribution that has been done has helped the situation so much. Those people, (who had been registered)…can now afford at least a meal a day,” said the bishop.
However, bishop Tombe warned of likely hunger next year if civilians living in fear will not be able to access their farms to harvest their crops. He called for continued support of humanitarian partners to improve the situation of the people in Yei.