Dominic MacSorely who is chief executive of Concern Worldwide says he welcomes the commitment made by Irish Aid to fund the relief efforts in South Sudan where there is a humanitarian crisis taking place. Simon Coveney and Ciarán Cannon the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development respectively, together announced that the Irish Government will provide €3 million of funding that will be used to finance the UN South Sudan Humanitarian Fund.
Ireland is a generous nation
Mr Macsorely welcomed the decision by Irish Aid and said that the brutal civil war taking place in South Sudan is now entering its fifth year and has inflicted a terrible toll of human suffering which is appalling. The new injection of funding was critical and is a reflection of the fact that Ireland has consistently focused on parts of the world where the needs are the greatest and does not forget those that have found themselves caught up in conflict and violence.
Brutal civil war
South Sudan is the youngest country in the world and its creation has been fraught with violence. The country is currently suffering from a brutal civil war that has caused large-scale displacement, malnutrition and food insecurity in the five years since it began. Over half of South Sudan’s population or seven million people require humanitarian assistance and nearly two-thirds of the population are facing starvation.
Delivering humanitarian assistance
Concern Worldwide has been operating in the East African country since 1998 and last year was able to deliver assistance to approximately 840,000 people. The aid agency has provided emergency food, shelter, clean water sanitation and toilet facilities in the capital Juba as well as in Unity State and Northern Bahr el Ghazal.
Access to clean water and food
The humanitarian aid agency which started from humble beginnings in Ireland is making sure that 53,000 people living in the Bentiu Protection of Civilian camp as well as a couple of close by towns have access to food and clean water. Concern is also delivering nutritional assistance to tens of thousands of severely malnourished South Sudanese refugees in Gambella in neighbouring Ethiopia.
