17 February 2014 - Added to humanitarian support, South Sudanese resilience would help take them through the current crisis, UNICEF Director for Emergency Operations Ted Chaiban said during a visit to an UNMISS protection site in Juba today.

“The amount of resilience and strength in the people of South Sudan was demonstrated in the long years in the lead up to independence,” said Mr. Chaiban, who had also met with displaced people in Lakes State’s Mingkaman camp and the Upper Nile State capital Malakal. “That strength is evident today. They are the asset of this nation.”

Mr. Chaiban, who was UNICEF representative in Sudan from 2005 to 2008 and served in other capacities in Southern Sudan for 20 years, said his visit had been partly “heartbreaking”.

“I am filled with sadness,” he said. “At the same time, I am filled with hope. All of the leaders that I have spoken to here have indicated that they know they must move beyond this… They know they have to move towards reconciliation and that the cessation of hostilities has to hold for all the people.”

Commending the work done by UN agencies and other organizations to support the population, Mr. Chaiban stressed the urgency of acting ahead of the rainy season to avert the worst in South Sudan.

“A number of organizations, including UNICEF, are making sure that everything possible is done to ensure that people have access to basics service like health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene,” he said. “Water is almost getting to the sphere (minimum) standards of 15 litres per person per day.”

He said it was vital to obtain all the most important resources the country needed immediately, adding that the UN humanitarian system had designated South Sudan as a top priority globally on this basis.

“We must do everything possible now to preposition supplies, to get the necessary support in terms of technical skills and to establish the basic services … including moving the population in low-lying areas to higher grounds,” said Mr. Chaiban

He also urged partners to continue tracing and reunifying children separated from their families, as well as to support access to education, which he described as “one of the basic priorities in a humanitarian displacement situation”.

The emergency director also appealed to all parties to the conflict to take responsibility to ensure there are no children within their ranks and should return them to their families, if found.

“When conflict happens as it happened in South Sudan, children get exposed to unspeakable forms of violence. They witness things that no child should witness and one of the worst forms of violence is recruitment,” he said.

“It is important that we look at the child holistically and that we do everything possible to protect that child now,” he added.