FANGAK – Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has conducted two airdrop operations to reach communities cut off by flooding and insecurity with humanitarian supplies in Fangak County, Jonglei State.
In total, MSF said 24 large consignments packed with medical items were parachuted down from aircrafts onto green fields in Fangak to help health facilities continue treating patients in extremely challenging conditions.
Each of the parachutes dropped carried up to 100 kilograms of essential supplies.
“Since aircraft often cannot land during the rainy season due to flooding or muddy conditions on the airstrip, this operation was vital for ensuring that critical medical supplies could reach facilities in hard-to-access areas, where road and river transport are also no longer possible,” MSF said in a statement.
The airdrop comes days after the United States Embassy in South Sudan issued a strongly worded statement, condemning the looting of humanitarian supplies destined for vulnerable populations in the Fangak County, by alleged South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) troops.
The Embassy slammed what it described as continued predation that is directed against those seeking to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to South Sudanese people in need.
It said SSPDF personnel raided a boat carrying World Food Programme (WFP) commodities in New Fangak on September 7, stealing food and supplies meant for South Sudanese civilians facing food insecurity.
“While the stolen goods were replaced on September 20, this reflects a worsening pattern of looting and rent-seeking directed against assistance activities in South Sudan by armed groups and individuals in positions of authority across the country,” it stressed.