South Sudan Aid Chief Welcomes Agreement to Resolve the Crisis

Statement by Toby Lanzer, Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan

Juba, 10 May 2014: “Given the enormous, immediate and medium-term humanitarian consequences of the past five months of fighting, I am pleased to note the parties' agreement in Addis Ababa. An end to the violence will allow people some breathing space, to move around more safely and to plant and take better care of themselves in the coming months.

The parties’ commitment to end the conflict and to cooperate, unconditionally, with the UN and humanitarian agencies to ensure that aid reaches millions of affected people in all areas of South Sudan is very welcome.

It is vital now to have full access, including to transport emergency relief to people in need by road and via the waterways by barge. Aid agencies such as the World Food Programme stand ready in Juba to load barges with life-saving aid and transport it to key destinations such as Bentiu and Malakal. We are also ready to use key corridors such as those from Juba to Rumbek and on to Wau, as well as from Ethiopia and Sudan.

NGOs and UN agencies continue to scale up operations to meet the needs of food insecure communities, people displaced by the conflict, and refugees cut off from assistance. Aid agencies are committed to delivering in the most focused, cost-effective and efficient way so that more aid can reach more people in need.

In the run-up to the high-level pledging conference in Oslo on 20 May I call on donors to commit financial resources to help people in South Sudan survive the conflict and to help themselves. A lasting peace must be forged soon to enable people to resume their livelihoods and rebuild their communities.”

For more information, contact:

Tapiwa Gomo, Head of Communications, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in South Sudan (gomo@un.org /+211 922 406079)
Follow the Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan on twitter.com/tobylanzer or @tobylanzer for latest updates.
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