Cautious optimism on food security in the south

General indications on the ground in southern Sudan are that the food security situation will be better for most of the population in the season 2001/2002 than it was in the season past, but pockets of food insecurity will remain in various locations, according to a joint USAID/WFP update released last week. Better rains and improved availability of inputs (seeds, fertiliser etc) were among the factors likely to lead to generally improved food security, according to the preliminary findings of a needs assessment cited in the 'Southern Sudan Update', released by the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) and WFP's technical support unit on Thursday, 18 October. The most vulnerable in the population continued to be internally displaced people (IDPs) and poorer socioeconomic groups, while the effects of flooding would also have a negative impact on harvests in some affected areas, it said. Particular food security concerns were noted in Raga County, western Bahr al-Ghazal - which has been the scene of recent fighting between Sudanese government forces and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), including the bombardment of Raga town. The government has now retaken control of Raga town, which it lost to the SPLA in late May/early June. IDPs fleeing Raga had boosted the number of displaced people in the village of Mangayath, 22 km to the southeast, to perhaps 20,000, and this has had a serious impact on the food security of an estimated 1,200 residents - already affected by low crop yields for the past two years amid erratic rains and insecurity, according to the update. Most of the IDPs were encamped between one and two kilometres outside the village along the Wau road, where "settlement conditions are desperate due to overcrowding, poor sanitation and water availability", it said. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) delivered a 75 percent (daily nutritional) ration for 20,000 beneficiaries - 1,200 residents, plus current and expected IDPs - during an operation which was repeatedly bombed between 5 and 8 October. The IDPs fled Raga "with few belongings and very little food, which is quickly running out", and were also in urgent need of shelter materials and health interventions, according to the 'Southern Sudan Update'. Cases of malnutrition had been observed, and were likely to worsen unless the sanitary and food situation was adequately addressed, it added. A joint WFP and Food and Agriculture Organisation food supply and crop assessment mission is due to provide crop production estimates later this month or in early November. Eight teams are continuing with a WFP-led annual needs assessment throughout southern Sudan, with late assessments scheduled for November in the Lakes region, Shilluk, Boma and Pachalla.