South Sudan: UN Boosts Food Assistance As ‘Very Critical’ Nile Corridor Reopens

Dec 29, 2014 | United Nations
View Original

A barge carrying a shipment of food destined for thousands of people in South Sudan has crossed over from neighbouring Sudan, reopening a long-closed river corridor along the Nile, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today.

“This is the first time in several years we have been able to use the Nile River to deliver food across the border between Sudan and South Sudan, and we are grateful to everyone who made it possible to re-open this vital supply line,” said WFP Acting South Sudan Country Director Stephen Kearney. “This will make an enormous difference in our efforts to bring food assistance to people in critical need.”

River transport of humanitarian supplies across the Sudanese-South Sudanese border ground to a halt in 2011 after the border’s closure following South Sudan’s independence. Its resumption – made possible by collaboration between the two governments – will now permit the UN and its agencies to deliver much-needed humanitarian cargo to thousands of South Sudanese civilians displaced by the country’s ongoing civil conflict.