The chief representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the diamond-rich dirt poor nation calls on all actors, including the  government, to live up to the expectations of the people.

ICRC delegation head Valerie Petitpierre tells a seminar in Pretoria the CAR poses the third worst humanitarian crisis on the planet behind Yemen and Syria.

“Two point nine million people depend on humanitarian assistance.One our of four people are displaced. Forty percent of the population is food insecure,” she says, adding that less than half the people have access to drinking water and more than three-quarters live in poverty.

There is hope after the February peace deal but government and other role players must see that the end of conflict also means an end to violence against civilians.

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The UN says it needs four billion dollars by the end of March to stop mass starvation in South Sudan, Somalia, Northeastern Nigeria and Yemen.

Response to the this international call has been disappointing. Just two cents for every dollar required.

UN boss Antonio Guterres says the situation is dire.

Millions of people are barely surviving in the space between malnutrition and death.

Famine is already a reality in parts of South Sudan. Unless we act now, it is only a matter of time until it affects other areas and other countries.

In our world of plenty, there is no excuse for inaction or indifference.

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The Juba government and the United Nations say some 100 000 people are facing starvation, with a million more on the brink of famine.

A combination of civil war and an economic collapse have been blamed.

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It’s six years since a famine has been declared. That was in was

Somalia which is once again listed – along with Yemen and north eastern Nigeria – as being on the brink of famine.

A famine is declared when the death rate exceeds two people per day of a every 10 000 in population, a third of the population suffer acute malnutrition and a fifth of households face extreme food storages

Aid agencies, including the UN World Food Programme and the children’s fund Unicef say nearly five million people – that’s more than 40% of South Sudan’s population – are in urgent need of food.

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A further 1 million people are classified as being on the brink of famine according to the World Food Programme and other UN bodies.

Unimpeded humanitarian access is urgently needed to reverse an escalating catastrophe say the UN and the  World Food Programme.

The famine is the first to be declared since 2011 in Somalia.

The UN has warned that three other countries – Yemen, Somalia and Nigeria are at risk of famine.

The UN insists the famine  in parts of Unity State in the northern-central part of South Sudan is man made – that means its caused by conflict rather than natural conditions like drought.

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A 25 year old woman terrorist is still at large and French police warn she may be armed and dangerous.

A statement sent to several media outlets by Al-Qaeda in Yemen claims the terrorist group is responsible for the shooting the 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo magazine which it calls revenge for the honour of Prophet Muhammad.

The alleged perpetarators of this act are Said and Cherif Kouachi who claimed allegiance to the group and died in a hail of police bullets on the outskirts of Paris yesterday.

Also in the capital police killed Amedy Koulibaly who’d taken hostages in a Jewish grocer demanding the release of the Kouachis.

His partner Hyatt Boumedienne is still at large.

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Asked to for numbers and locations, Nkoana Mashebane said details were being withheld at the request of the families involved.

“We have to continue working with families.If we are to secure their release and families have not given details themselves, it is better that we respect the interaction our consular services have with those families,” she said.

“All I can say to you is that we do not have more than five. It is important that we keep track of these people because some of them have double citizenship.”

Even with those dual nationals, South Africa was working relentlessly get them released, the minister said.

She was careful not to point any blame in the death of Pierre Korkie, who was killed by his captors when US special forces staged an abortive rescue mission for him and US photojournalist Luke Somers.

“We all need to get together and fight terrorism and what comes with it, hostage taking. I think the intentions were good, but the outcome was not what one desired.

“There were intentions to try and get those hostages free, safe and sound it did not work out the way it was planned. South Africa’s tactics might not be the same as our other interlocutors but what remains is that we all are engaged in combating this terrorism wherever it rears its ugly head.”said the minister.

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