Archbishop Of Canterbury Warns Of Crisis In South Sudan As Millions Face Starvation

Feb 22, 2017 by Jill

by James Macintyre, Christian Today:

Justin Welby has warned of the ‘dire situation’ in South Sudan as a state of famine has been declared in parts of the African nation where an estimated 100,000 people are already starving, according to the UN.

The Archbishop of Canterbury appealed in a Facebook post for new humanitarian corridors for aid to reach people in need in the crisis-ridden country, which has been devastated by three years of civil war.

‘We stand prayerfully alongside the South Sudanese people and their leaders,’ wrote Archbishop Welby, who is visiting several African countries.

‘We pray for those on the ground who are delivering humanitarian assistance, that there will be an opening up of humanitarian corridors for the aid that is so desperately needed.’

The comments come as the UN reports that 275,000 children are severely malnourished and more than 5 million people are urgently in need of food, agricultural and nutritional assistance.

‘I’ve seen first-hand the consequences of the volume of refugees attempting to cross the borders to find safety, and the crisis facing those neighbouring countries as well as those in South Sudan,’ Welby said.

The famine in South Sudan is the first to be declared since the Somalian famine in 2011, when more than 250,000 people died from starvation over a two year period.

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