Trucks at the Nimule Customs yard | Credit | Deng Daniel

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management is appealing to the neighboring countries not to restrict food supplies to the country.

Peter Mayen Majongdit revealed in a press statement Thursday, that the neighboring Uganda has closed down a major export market in a move to curb its own food insecurity.

This is amidst reports that the current global economic crisis, believed to be sparked by multiple factors such as the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, has compelled countries to ban export of food commodities.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Mayen said Uganda has taken the stringent measures to close one export market for South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“The situation we have apparently, to say basically, and openly is that of course Uganda has closed one of the major markets which we used to get the supply from and not only us, but also the Republic of Congo and other countries,” Minister Mayen told the press.

Mayen fears that the situation could get worst for the 8.9 million people who are already food insecure in the country.

“The food supply that we used to get, and we are no longer getting it. And may increase deeply into a major crisis. The humanitarian situation in the country, only a fraction of the country can afford their daily needs,” he stated.

Reports have shown that in South Sudan, only 1.5 to 2 million people are independent and do not need humanitarian assistance.

Minister Mayen appealed to ‘the friends’ of South Sudan to continue releasing food commodities to the import dependent South Sudan.

“I call on our friends in the neighboring countries to continue opening up their supplies of food commodities in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sudan.”

The war in Ukraine is said to have disrupted global food supply chain, and triggered a rise in global food price.

Last month, the German news outlet, DW reported that Uganda is imposing high taxes to prevent food exports to neighboring countries.

The outlet also wrote that ‘global food protectionism is now in full swing, after India and major EU food exporting nations such as Hungary halted the export of certain crops.’

In the recent weeks, the government with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program had convened meetings and deliberated on how to address the looming crisis.

Mayen said the ministry and partners shall work collectively to ensure that an action plan is laid out to address future food insecurity in the country.

“The government of Republic of South Sudan and the partners have agreed on the previous meetings to work out on comprehensive strategies on how best we should implement a food security strategy, the ministry of humanitarian affairs and partners are going to ensure that a proper strategy is laid out to address the issue,” Mayen said.

For his part, FAO representative Alemu Demeke the current crisis requires a joint action with the government and humanitarian partners.

“The current food security is already very fragile one institution alone cannot institution like ministry of humanitarian alone or partners alone cannot fully response to the  situation,

“It requires multi sectorial, multi institutional and also multi country response. So FAO is in general committed to work with partners in easing the pressure on the vulnerable community, the full impact of the Ukraine war and also other compounding factors of the community,” he stated.

The steps and strategies to address the crisis as he said, have not been made clear.