Food security "precarious" in oil region

The food security situation facing the oil rich region of western Upper Nile (Wahdah State) is "precarious", having deteriorated over the last month due to continued conflict, the Famine Early Warning System Networks (FEWS Net) reported. In addition, thousands of people displaced by fighting from Western Upper Nile into neighbouring Bahr-al Ghazal and Jonglei States had lost the benefits of the current agricultural season as they been forced to leave before harvesting their crops, USAID's FEWS Net said in its latest update on southern Sudan. They would also be unable to take advantage of the cropping season in their areas of refuge, as it was now too late, the report said. The displacement had put pressure on host communities and risked increasing insecurity still further. An increase in the numbers of displaced people, particularly in the Lakes region, was likely to cause conflict over local resources, such as water and pasture, FEWS Net said. The ability of displaced persons to access food would therefore be "highly dependent" on the harvests in Bahr al-Ghazal and the Lakes region, and the "willingness of the host communities to share the local resources". However, prospects for the coming harvest in Bahr al-Ghazal were poor as a result of inadequate rainfall. "Agro-climatic conditions and the current status of crops in most areas [of southern Sudan] indicated prospects of a poor harvest," the report said. An upsurge in fighting in recent months around the oilfields of western Upper Nile has led to the displacement of tens of thousands of civilians, John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group think tank reported recently. Humanitarian flight denials by the Sudanese government to locations in the region have also hampered efforts by aid agencies to deliver much needed relief food to the displaced.