Bahr al-Ghazal IDPs face food insecurity

Food availability and access are good in most secure locations of southern Sudan after recent harvests but insecurity and its consequences are limiting access to most of the available food options in parts of Bahr al-Ghazal Region, according to the latest update from the Famine Early Warning System Network. Western Equatoria continued to enjoy relative food security and crop surpluses had lead to declining cereal prices, but that was in stark contrast to other areas, most notably in Bahr al-Ghazal, where prices remained extremely high, according to the USAID- and WFP-supported FEWS Net. These disparities highlighted poor market linkages, serious variations in cereal availability and the existence of wealthy entrepreneurial networks, such that finding ways to move food from the food-surplus area of Western Equatoria to deficit areas in other regions was "a major challenge," it added. Continued insecurity [as a result of fighting between the government of Sudan and the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)] and intensified bombing by the government was "precluding or limiting access to the various local markets and other food sources in parts of Bahr al-Ghazal," FEWS Net reported. The World Food Programme's Technical Support Unit (TSU) estimated that, by mid-November, there were 16,000 new internally-displaced people (IDPs) in Awoda, Raga County, Western Bahr al-Ghazal, it stated. This was as a result of the government's recapture of Raga town [in mid-October] and of all other towns along the road from Raga to Wau [including Mangayat, Sop, Deim Zubeir, Yabulu and Boro], it said. The IDPs would remain food insecure and to need food and non-food assistance, the report added. Awoda, hosting 16,000 IDPs from Raga, had been too insecure to allow WFP access as a result of troop movements along the road between Raga and the railway line but the agency managed a rapid assessment on 21 November, it stated in its newly-released November report. WFP staff subsequently managed to get food relief to some 20,000 beneficiaries, including 10,000 newly-arrived IDPs [joining 6,000 who had previously fled Raga], in a "hit-and-run intervention," it said. The agency also continued its efforts to serve IDPs from Raga in Numatina [7.14 N 27.37 E], it added. It was "highly likely" that the government dry-season offensive would be intense, as it sought to capture strategic locations in Bahr al-Ghazal and Upper Nile, while the opposition might also to capture - or recapture - new areas, according to FEWS Net. With no indications of insecurity abating, the likelihood was high of more population displacements, increased vulnerability to food security, disease and deteriorating livelihoods in 2002, it said. Population displacement, limited mobility and precluded access to food sources meant that "personal insecurity remains one of the major determinants of food insecurity in southern Sudan," it added. Relief needs would continue to be required through 2002 for the displaced populations in Bahr al-Ghazal, Upper Nile and Lakes Regions, and also for populations affected by insecurity in Eastern Equatoria, FEWS Net reported. The annual needs assessment currently being finalised by WFP would outline the estimates of food needs for 2002 in the different locations, it added.