Country: South Sudan Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Please refer to the attached file. As delivered Thank you, Madam President. I pay warm tribute to the legendary Fink Hayson and particularly warm welcome our outstanding colleague, Kiki Gbeho as our new [Special Representative for South Sudan and Head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan]. Madam President, Visiting South Sudan a few weeks ago, I was told again and again of a feeling of despair and abandonment – and with good reason. The world’s youngest nation stands at a dangerous crossroads. Conflict up. Displacement up. Hunger up. Disease up. Attacks on aid workers up. Funding down. Two out of every three people need humanitarian support this year, yet our hyper-prioritised $1.46 billion Humanitarian Plan is only 22 per cent funded. Madam President, The scale of this despair is most acutely felt in places like Jonglei State, in the northeast, where I spent much of my week. Let me illustrate the challenges there. Since late December, renewed fighting has forced more than a quarter of a million people to flee across multiple states, another 110,000 into Ethiopia. In the town of Akobo, violence has forced aid workers out, cutting communities off from our help when they need it most. When our inter-agency team recently returned to the area two weeks ago, they found more than 140,000 people in dire need of help in the surrounding areas of Akobo County. Humanitarian compounds looted and nutrition centres destroyed. Barely a week later, last weekend, renewed violence in and around Akobo displaced many of those we had just assessed yet again, further challenging our ability to provide critical help. I visited Akobo Hospital. In late February, it was serving more than 100,000 people, including 18-month-old Kool, found with gunshot wounds in both limbs, receiving daily physiotherapy to recover. The ICRC surgeon, Medecins sans Frontieres, and South Sudanese doctors there told me they operate on countless gunshot wounds. They often have to amputate because patients walk such long distances to get treatment, and the wounds, of course, get infected. A few weeks later, I’m afraid, that hospital has been stripped bare. Medicines, equipment, beds – a lifeline for this entire community – all gone. Many of those I met are dead. According to the [World Health Organization], 1.35 million people across Jonglei State have lost access to healthcare after 26 facilities were destroyed or forced to close. Cholera is on the rise. Measles persists. In Jonglei, I met families uprooted again and again. Women told me that they fled extreme violence. Their homes had been burned down. One said people had been ‘slaughtered like goats.’ I met a grandmother who had carried her 19-year-old granddaughter, born paralyzed, for days as they fled fighting. Their story was not unique. Many who I met in Akobo, described carrying elderly during the escape, while others pushed family members with disabilities in wheelbarrows along the way. This is what it looks like when parties defy their obligations to protect civilians and undermine the Revitalised Peace Agreement. And I fear, like Kiki, that the closure of the UN Mission in South Sudan’s temporary base in Akobo this month because of funding shortfalls will exacerbate existing security gaps. This could, in turn, undermine prospects for returns, contribute to further displacement, and limit even further our humanitarian support. Madam President, The situation in Upper Nile State, in the northeast corner, is just as alarming. Fighting, access restrictions, interference with our operations – all are blocking aid. And in parallel, the war in Sudan – with the Kordofan region just across the border – is pushing more people into South Sudan; 439,000 Sudanese refugees, 917,000 returnees. I met South Sudanese returnees who had made the journey from Khartoum to Malakal in Upper Nile, and they described harassment, assault and looting along the way. Now they are trying to reach their villages and families, but insecurity, access constraints and lack of support are holding them back. In the town of Renk, more than 30,000 people have arrived in just three months, almost two thirds of them women. Thousands are stuck in a transit centre with limited basic services. We are hearing reports of older people dying due to severe malnutrition. And hunger across South Sudan is tightening its grip. Emergency levels of food insecurity – what we call IPC phase 4 – are expected for some population across all of South Sudan’s ten states during the lean season from now through July. Madam President, I therefore fear my next briefing to you on South Sudan will speak of famine. More than 7.5 million people will need food assistance this year. All of this is unfolding as floods are expected to continue, cutting communities off and hitting livelihoods – once again. Colleagues, Madam President, In the midst of such challenges, I pay huge tribute to the humanitarians who are delivering. We face hostilities, red tape, checkpoints along key routes imposing high fees, denial of air access, aid workers forced to leave, funding cuts, constant life-and-death decisions. But where we can reach displaced people, we are scaling up food, health, nutrition, shelter and protection. In Jonglei alone, over 113,000 people have already received food just this year. Partners have provided over 14 tons of emergency health supplies. Thousands of water, sanitation and hygiene kits. Air operations, including through the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), remain a critical lifeline, and I have recently allocated $13 million to support UNHAS flights in the country. We are also scaling up anticipatory action, pre-positioning supplies ahead of expected flooding. UNMISS continues to play that vital role through its security presence and in facilitating our critical humanitarian operations. Madam President, To prevent South Sudan from sliding toward full-scale famine and collapse, I call on this Council to take three decisive and immediate actions. First, press for rapid, unhindered humanitarian access, including the immediate removal of red tape, checkpoints, high fees, and the guarantee of predictable, sustained air access. Second, swiftly step up flexible funds, especially through this lean season. And third, use your influence on the parties to demand full respect for international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians and infrastructure. Support renewed political efforts to strengthen adherence to ceasefire agreements and move towards implementation of the Revitalised Peace Agreement. Humanitarian action can save lives, but, as I underlined to the President and his team, only peace can end this crisis. Thank you.

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