Without permits, aid workers trying to feed civilians who are starving in a famine caused by three years of vicious conflict cannot operate. In December, the chair of the UN commission on civil rights in South Sudan warned that the country stood on the brink of an all-out ethnic civil war. Aid workers already face harassment and attacks and are blocked from areas in desperate need. People are already dying in South Sudan, and aid workers say roads will be cut off and airstrips may become unusable once rains arrive in April. The African Union, which issued a damning report on atrocities in South Sudan two years ago, needs to play its part too; the surge of refugees entering Uganda may concentrate minds.

Source: The Guardian March 12, 2017 19:41 UTC