17 March 2015 - Lack of real progress on the political front was raising concerns that this could result in more fighting which would have more consequences on people’s lives, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Toby Lanzer said in Juba today.

“We’re already in a very precarious situation after 15 months of conflict,” said the top UN humanitarian official in the country. “The situation is very grave and in the absence of peace, it has every possibility of becoming more serious.”

Mr. Lanzer, who is also the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General (DSRSG), listed challenges, including two and a half million people who are severely food-insecure and 500,000 children who dropped out school because of the conflict.

“On top of the fact that there is an absence of peace, I am also very worried about the economic situation,” said Mr. Lanzer.

He explained that income from the petroleum sector had gone down by 75 per cent, making it difficult for South Sudanese institutions to function, as well as to pay bills and salaries.

Mr. Lanzer said that such a situation raised the temptation to print money, but noted that doing that with nothing to back the value of the currency usually leads to hyper-inflation.

“If that was to occur in South Sudan, we would be in an ever-more grave situation and the people who have managed to eke out a life so far, despite the crisis, would also be added to those terrible numbers that I quoted earlier,” he said.

The DSRSG said that UN agencies and non-governmental partners were gearing up with focus on three key areas.

One of the priorities was to reach people in need by road, he said, adding that until the middle of June, aid agencies would be trying to deliver 300,000 metric tonnes of relief items to different locations.

He commended both parties to the conflict and the country's authorities for facilitating increased access by road within the country, as well as authorities in Ethiopia and Sudan for cross-border access by road.

Another key area was to help 500,000 children get back to school, the top humanitarian and development official in the country said.

“We have to invest much more in emergency education and UNICEF and other organizations are spearheading that effort,” he said.

Mr. Lanzer said humanitarian partners were also focusing on getting ready for the planting season, noting that this was absolutely vital for subsistence farmers and the entire economy of South Sudan which is heavily reliant on people’s ability to move freely with their livestock and to be able to plant their crops especially during April and May.

“If they can do that, the South Sudanese as we know are resilient and they can do much to help themselves,’ he said.

He added that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization was currently spearheading the international effort to get as many seeds and tools to communities throughout the country.

Thanking the international donor community for a series of pledges made during a high-level meeting in the Kenyan capital Nairobi in mid-February, Mr. Lanzer revealed that currently there was about $620 million pledged against the $1.8 billion humanitarian appeal for this year.

“We cannot take this generosity for granted,” he said. “We do need real signals from the political leadership that things are going to get better.”