British government “must respond”

Little attention has been paid to the development needs of the people of southern Sudan, where chronic conflict has “systematically destroyed the social fabric of institutions sustaining food security, education and health care”. In a joint statement, Christian Aid and Oxfam said despite humanitarian efforts in the war-affected south, underdevelopment had become institutionalised. “Southern Sudan now represents one of the most glaring examples of development failure in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa”, the statement said. It criticised British government policy for “reducing development assistance while war continued”, saying it had done little to further the pursuit of peace.

It said successive generations of children had grown up without adequate primary education, and that approximately 90 percent of girls did not attend school. With agricultural production below subsistence level, many people remained dependent on emergency food aid. Forced population movements were increasing pressure on the environment “deepening already extensive poverty for most families”.

According to the statement, health services are almost non-existent with people dying of preventable or curable diseases. “Little is being done to counter the AIDS pandemic which will have devastating consequences for future development in southern Sudan,” the statement said. Chronic underdevelopment also meant almost no electricity or telecommunication system, and little commerce and trade.
British non-governmental organisations working in southern Sudan called on the British government to step up efforts to secure a negotiated settlement to the conflict, sustain the provision of humanitarian assistance and respond urgently “to the development disaster in the Sudan”.