Courtesy of the NRC official website

The Norwegian Refugee Council has warned that the lives of 3.7 million civilians in South Sudan could be at risk if their humanitarian needs are not met before the rainy season.

The Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, visited Bor in Jonglei State and Minkaman camp in Lakes State to assess the humanitarian situation created by the political crisis.

Mr Egeland described the situation as “harrowing” when he addressed journalists on his return to Juba.

“Frankly, travelling today, the stories you hear of the displaced are harrowing. A lot of damage is done. So now the stark image is really a race against time, six, eight, ten weeks before the rainy season. If we do not have enough supplies there when this country becomes impassable by road, a lot of lives will be lost, lives that we can now save if we get there with enough relief supplies in time. And secondly if we are not able to get these very poor people to plant, the three point seven million could become many more millions in time,” he said.

Mr Egeland said more than 1,000 people are also stranded on islands in the Nile with no access to health services.

“I was taken aback by hearing the displacement is continuing in and even around Bor area, and the other image that also comes is of the people trapped on the islands in the Nile. I spoke to NGO colleagues who had gone and seen more than 1,000 improvised huts and tents so more than 1,000 families on tiny islands in the Nile where they feel trapped, they don’t have money or resources to get off,” he added.

Mr Egeland said he will take the report to donors with the hope they will respond to humanitarian needs within the next 10 weeks.