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Africa Subsaharan
U.S. to Provide $180 mn in South Sudan Food Aid
2014-08-13
[AnNahar] The United States said Tuesday it will provide $180 million in additional aid to help feed people facing a looming famine in war-torn South Sudan.

The funds would raise to $636 million the total amount Washington has put up in humanitarian assistance in a country wracked by conflict between its President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar.
Is this part of some formal spending program, or that new-fangled royal largesse? Because we're suddenly reading about all sorts of donations -- to Gaza and such -- that strike me as exactly the kind of thing the Republican-controlled House would not have approved.
"But the scale of the suffering and humanitarian need there is shocking, and the threat of famine is real -- so much so that we are using this emergency funding authority for the first time since 2008," the White House said.

"The people of South Sudan are suffering because of the inability of South Sudan's leaders to put their people's interests above their own."

It called on Kiir and Machar to "immediately assume their responsibilities to the South Sudanese to prevent further needless suffering."

"It is more critical than ever that both sides end the violence and ensure the safety of humanitarian aid workers so that they can reach those most in need across South Sudan," the White House added.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after a long and bloody conflict between Khartoum and the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

But a power struggle between Kiir and Machar in December 2013 plunged the country into renewed warfare that has left thousands dead and more than 1.5 refugees.

U.N. Security Council envoys warned the country's leaders during a visit to Juba Tuesday that they faced sanctions if the fighting did not stop.
Posted by:trailing wife

#5  What Barbara said.
Posted by: borgboy   2014-08-13 23:28  

#4  What Barbara said.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2014-08-13 15:59  

#3  I'm 68 years old. No matter how much aid they receive from the West, Africans have been starving for all of my life, and decades (centuries?) before that.

D'ya think the fault might lie in Africa?
Posted by: Barbara   2014-08-13 13:08  

#2  That's exactly what a bankrupt man ought to do: go further in debt to gift hundreds of $m to starving africans.
Posted by: Si vis pacem para bellum   2014-08-13 11:35  

#1  Wonder what part of State's budget they cut to pay for that?
Posted by: Pappy   2014-08-13 09:53  

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