Letters to the Editor: Time is running out to save Sudan from famine

EDITOR - TIME is running out to prevent famine after four months of conflict in Sudan.

Concern Worldwide is a hunger-focused Irish humanitarian organisation and we are deeply concerned that almost 6.3m people are in areas of Sudan that are one-step away from an official famine classification.

We must do everything we can to prevent famine and people suffering and dying from hunger. The levels of hunger in the country are deeply concerning and if humanitarian access doesn’t improve the outcomes will be catastrophic.

The UN-led organisation that issues famine warnings (the integrated food security phase classification, known as the IPC) said Sudan’s conflict and economic decline have driven about 20.3m people (over 42% of its population) into high levels of acute food insecurity.

It said that 14m of those people are living in IPC Phase 3 (two steps from famine) and 6.3 million people (13 per cent of the population) are experiencing worse conditions in IPC Phase 4, which is considered an emergency and one level below famine.

Food prices have also soared, food production has been dramatically reduced, humanitarian aid access is limited and it is forecast that rainfall will be below average this year, which will further impact crops, livestock and the availability of water. We continue to face challenges in the movement of goods and staff into and across the country. It is only a matter of time before we run out of supplies in the various health facilities that we support and services come to a halt despite the ever-increasing levels of needs across the country.

Over 1m people have fled Sudan to neighbouring countries since the conflict began on April 15th, according to the UN. Over 366,430 of those refugees arrived in Eastern Chad where aid organisations like Concern are trying to provide the much-needed support. Most of them are women and children arriving with few items and very traumatised.

Despite the conflict, we continue to deliver humanitarian assistance in Sudan, centred mostly on the provision of health and nutrition services. More funding for urgent humanitarian support is needed to save lives and prevent further escalation of this emergency.

Amina Abdulla,
Concern regional director,
Horn of Africa,
Lower Camden Street,
Dublin 2.

New 270 bus route is a missed opportunity

EDITOR – What a shame that a recent article on the new 270 Bus Éireann route service misses the boat (bus) in so many ways. There’s almost a naivete in the way the civic bodies think a picture with smartened driver and group of officials will result in people leaping onto their gleaming bus.

After, once again, lamenting the sub-standard initial performance, the more tolerant of us might consider the possibility of using the new service in preference to the car. After some 35 years of promoting bus and coach services, I’d have imagined a special leaflet would have been produced and would be readily available in the tourist offices of Skibbereen and Bantry. No such luck. With new users being the primary target, this would have been useful.

With my experienced hat on, I delved deeper. With three separate timetables for Mondays to Fridays, Saturdays only and Sundays only, a common pitfall for the novice, I concluded that the wealth of trips on offer to West Cork residents in any pamphlet could include a lunch visit to the Ouvane Falls Hotel in Ballylickey, a scenic run up to Kenmare for coffee, a Kenmare Bay Boat Trip, and lunch, or a family group excursion to Kilgarvan for the motor museum, the highest pub in Ireland and a riding stables for the children.

These were just a few of a blow-in’s perceived options but any further investigation was thwarted. How much would a trip cost? How do I book a seat? If I decide to set off on spec, what happens if the bus arrives for my return journey with no seats available? By now I’ve got the car out!

Nick Turner,
Drimoleague.

Very long delays but no sign of any roadworks!

EDITOR – I took a short trip to your lovely part of the world from Kilkenny this weekend. I was heading to Inchydoney but got stuck in roadworks on Saturday and again on Sunday when returning. What really intrigued me was that, despite a wait of almost 20 minutes on a red light, when we passed the cordoned off section, there didn’t appear to be any roadworkers there, and no sign of any actual work being done. I thought we may have caught them on an impromptu ‘break’ but it was the very same odd scene on Sunday afternoon. I’ve seen it all now – invisible roadworks!

John Kenny,
Kilkenny city.

Water extraction has shifted the planet’s axis

EDITOR – George Salter Townshend, in his letter of August 12th, is perfectly correct. The earth’s axis of rotation has been altered by human activity, but perhaps, not for the reasons he suggests. According to information from the world wide web, it has been established that the North Pole has indeed shifted by 31 inches to the east as a result of the extraction of groundwater, (2,150 gigatonnes) between 1993 and 2010, for consumption by human beings and for agriculture.

Dermod O’Brien,
Ballydehob.