AP Top News｜饥饿监测机构称，南苏丹部分地区在数月未获援助后面临饥荒威胁

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) No food aid has reached a conflict-hit area of South Sudan this year despite growing fears that it is headed toward famine, international food security analysts said Tuesday.

The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global monitor, estimates that 28,000 people in Nasir and Fangak counties face catastrophic food insecurity, the most severe level of hunger.

An immediate and large-scale response is required, it says.

Both counties have been historically controlled by the SPLM-IO opposition party led by suspended First Vice President Riek Machar.

Machar has been charged with treason and other crimes that he denies over an attack by a local militia on a military garrison in Nasir that South Sudans government says killed 250 soldiers. Government-led military operations, including dozens of aerial bombardments, have targeted opposition forces and allied militias in Nasir throughout much of the year.

After months of clashes, Nasir is now effectively partitioned between the opposition, which controls large swathes of the county, and government forces. Heavy fighting and airstrikes have displaced tens of thousands of people into dozens of informal sites along the Sobat river, a major Nile tributary.

The violence, which has only recently calmed, has presented a major obstacle for aid groups to deliver food.

Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the South Sudan director for the World Food Program, said in an emailed statement that fighting and access restrictions had significantly limited the ability to reach areas of eastern Nasir county along the Sobat corridor since February.

But McGroarty said a WFP-led mission last month had verified the location of civilians and secured access assurances from authorities. This will be our first time reaching these populations this year, she said.

Lam Paul Gabriel, a SPLM-IO spokesperson, accused the government of blocking the flow of aid into opposition-controlled areas to punish civilians living there and encourage movement into government-controlled zones.

But Stephen Kueth, chairperson of South Sudans Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, denied that aid groups had been blocked.

We are making it clear that food cannot be used as a weapon of war, he said.

Kueth said the government had worked with a private U.S. company to conduct airdrops into Nasir earlier in the year. The operation received criticism from aid groups and opposition officials for targeting areas said to be largely abandoned by civilians but occupied by the military.

The threat of famine

The IPC is the only globally recognized framework for declaring a famine.

It considers an area to be in famine when three things occur: Deaths from malnutrition-related causes reach at least two people, or four children under age 5, per 10,000; at least one in five people or households severely lack food and face starvation; and at least 30% of children under age 5 suffer from acute malnutrition based on a weight-to-height measurement or 15% based on upper-arm circumference.

Famine declarations are rare. The last famine in South Sudan was declared in 2017 during the countrys civil war.

Now, more than half the countrys population is expected to face severe hunger in 2026, according to the IPC.

南苏丹朱巴（美联社）——国际粮食安全分析师周二表示，尽管人们越来越担心南苏丹一个受冲突影响的地区将陷入饥荒，但今年该地区仍未收到任何粮食援助。

全球监测机构“综合粮食安全阶段分类”发布的报告估计，纳西尔和方加克县有2.8万人面临“灾难性粮食不安全”，这是饥饿问题的最严重级别。

报告指出，需要立即采取大规模应对措施。

这两个县历史上一直由反对党苏丹人民解放运动-反对派（SPLM-IO）控制，该党派由被停职的第一副总统里克·马夏尔领导。

马沙尔被指控犯有叛国罪及其他罪行，起因是当地民兵袭击了南苏丹政府称造成250名士兵死亡的纳西尔军事驻地，但他对此予以否认。今年以来，政府主导的军事行动（包括数十次空袭）长期针对纳西尔地区的反对派武装及同盟民兵组织展开打击。

经过数月的冲突，纳西尔现已实际被反对派和政府军分割控制——前者占据该县大片区域。激烈交火与空袭迫使数万人流离失所，他们沿尼罗河主要支流索巴特河分散在数十个非正式安置点。

刚刚平息的暴力事件给援助组织运送粮食造成了重大阻碍。

世界粮食计划署南苏丹办事处主任玛丽-埃伦·麦格罗蒂（Mary-Ellen McGroarty）在一份电子邮件声明中表示，自2月以来，冲突和通行限制已“严重限制”了通过索巴特走廊进入纳西尔县东部地区的能力。

但麦格罗蒂表示，由世界粮食计划署主导的任务团队上月已核实了平民所在地，并获得了当局的通行保障。她称："这将是我们今年首次接触到这些民众。"

苏丹人民解放运动-反对派（SPLM-IO）发言人拉姆·保罗·加布里埃尔指控政府阻挠援助物资进入反对派控制区，意图惩罚当地平民并迫使其迁往政府控制区域。

但南苏丹救济与复兴委员会主席斯蒂芬·库埃特否认援助组织遭到阻挠。

他明确表示：“我们必须申明，粮食绝不能成为战争武器。”

库埃斯表示，政府曾与美国一家私营公司合作，于今年早些时候向纳西尔地区实施空投行动。该行动因针对据称已基本被平民遗弃、但被军方占领的区域而遭到援助组织和反对派官员的批评。

饥荒的威胁

IPC是国际公认的、唯一用于宣布饥荒的框架体系。

判定某地区处于饥荒状态需同时满足三个条件：每万人中至少有两人或五岁以下儿童四人死于营养不良相关原因；至少五分之一的人口或家庭面临严重食物短缺及饥饿威胁；五岁以下儿童中，按身高体重比测量至少有30%患有急性营养不良，或按上臂围测量该比例达15%。

饥荒的官方认定极为罕见。南苏丹上一次被宣布进入饥荒状态是在2017年，当时该国正处于内战期间。

据IPC（综合粮食安全等级分类）预测，到2026年，该国超过半数人口将面临严重饥荒。