01.00.00

Dinka, cattle

The song of the Dinka takes a season to write and can last as long as he has the energy to sing it. The song is a way of spreading news in a land where few have radios, and electricity is still a dream. This year the Dinkas are singing a lament. It tells of a man made conflict and natural disasters. It's a song about the dry season just past when the farmers had to eat their seed grain and of the rainy season ahead when the only crop will be hunger.

00.49

The Southern Sudanese are among the hardiest people in the world and the Dinka are the dominant tribe forming the leadership and bulk of the popular army known as the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, the SPLA.

01.02

SPLA soldiers/

Child eating leaves

In January this year the SPLA scored a series of military successes, over-running 3 Government Garrison towns in the South. Fearing military defeat the Government of Sudan has turned to its ultimate weapon: Starvation. In February it banned the aid flights that have been the only lifeline into the South, which because of the war and famine is rapidly moving towards famine.

01.34

Jennifer Kisingula, World Vision Health Officer

If we don't do something now it is going to be worse, so what we do is try and get as much supplementary feeding to these children so it doesn't worsen the situation.

01.51

Hungry people/ dry Sudanese town

The growing hunger in the Sudan presented the UN and aid bodies with a critical decision: how to get food into the South in time to prevent mass starvation. The solution is the most ambitious road convoy ever to go into Southern Sudan. It's a logistical nightmare.

02.10

Warehouse at Koboko/ piles of food

As the food piled up in Uganda precious days were lost securing the trucks for the convoy. One group of trucks was two weeks overdue, lost somewhere in bandit infested North Uganda. For World Vision Logistics Officer Killen Otieno this was just the beginning of his problems.

02.27

Killen Otieno, World Vision Logistics Officer

I have tried to get in contact with the other transporter, but when I inspected these trucks, I realised they're not in good condition for the kind of work they are meant for.

02.49

Storm begins

To make matters worse, suddenly, with the rainy season a full month away, a fierce storm came lashing in from the South. If the rains stayed the roads would quickly become impassable.

03.01

PTC Stephen Levitt, lightening

The trucks that were supposed to be ready were unable to travel to Uganda, being held literally together by rubber so that contract has been canceled and we're looking for more trucks. In the meantime as you can see the rains have continued - you only have to step outside that door to get hit by lightening... There goes the lights.

03.28

Sunny day/ Killen Otieno on phone

The next day the rains have stopped, giving the roads a chance to dry. But that was the only good news for Killen Otieno. Overnight the remaining trucking companies at Koboko have decided to gang together and jack up their fees by an extra 50%.

03.50

Killen Otieno/ John Taylor, Truckers Representative

KO: So I hear that you agree for 56.

JT: No, I don't. That's what I think we're going to do. And then we'll get stuck in the rain. That's what I think we're going to do. We've done it before. We've hung out for a few months, then they'll get stuck in the mud. Then we had to go and pull them out. Then we'll charge recovery. But I don't know. We'll see. You have to go back to them, talk to them, and then we'll see. We all have to agree.

04.15

John Taylor on radio

I don't know what to do now. They're bringing a lot of trucks up from Nairobi. It's going to be 56 flat rate, we've accepted it. That's going to be truck oil, Wackenbazi and Assist. Assist have accepted it, I've accepted it, flat rate. For everywhere.

04.40

Trucks being loaded

In the end the truckers had to back down, but with thousands of lives in the balance, yet another precious day has been lost. Finally the missing trucks from Kenya arrive, and anxious to beat the rains, roll straight through to Sudan. A journey that should have taken 4 days took 2 weeks. With the first part of the convoy already rolling and the second part delayed by loading, we set off in a 4-wheel drive vehicle to catch up with the convoy in Sudan.

05.15

Vehicle stopped by mine sweepers

No sooner had we crossed the border than it began to rain again and that was not the only sign of trouble ahead. We've only made 20km and the vehicle is brought to a halt by SPLA sweepers clearing mines. The road, an important lifeline out of the South has been extensively mined by both sides.

05.42

Skulls along roadside

As we approached Yei, we came upon rows of skulls scattered over a kilometre. All that remains of an entire government garrison ambushed as they retreated from the town last April.

06.03

Bandaged face

When we arrived at Yei we found the hospital was filled with wounded civilians. These people are the innocent victims of the Sudanese government's vengeance for its military setbacks.

06.17

PTC in front of bomb shelter

This is Yei, about 40 km inside Sudan and a popular spot for the government bombers to hit. Yesterday they got lucky. At 10am they managed to put 4 bombs onto this hospital. The final bomb went into the bunker behind me, hitting 40 people.

06.35

Bombed Hospital

2 children and 5 adults died outright, whilst scores more were horrifically mutilated. The hospital is the largest in the region, but now because it has been deliberately targeted the patients are afraid to come near it.

06.56

Dr Ajak Bullen Allier, Yei Country Hospital

So from the incident of last month we knew that the accuracy was coming to the hospital and that is what happened. The hospital was attacked. We think it was deliberately targeted by the Sudanese government.

07.18

Teak forest/ SPLA checkpoint

Leaving Yei, we pass mile after mile of teak plantation. The war in Southern Sudan is as much about the ownership of this precious timber and the vast reserves of untapped oil, as it is about race and religion. When we at last catch up with the front of the convoy, it is at an SPLA checkpoint manned by soldiers released from the fighting looking for transport.

07.52

Soldiers show pass/ want lift/ surround truck

SPLA Soldier: This is my departure order.

These soldiers are desperate but aid agencies can't carry armed combatants. The soldiers refuse to let us or the trucks through without giving them a lift. After two hours we decide to leave the trucks and drive around the checkpoint. To do that we have to pass over a bridge which threatens to collapse.

08.27

Bridge giving way under wheels

That bridge is going to give way. I really think that's going to give way!.... World's best driver!

08.49

Traveling/ sunset

The next 600km give an insight into the terrible beauty of Southern Sudan. War, blockade and sheer isolation, 2 years of drought compounded by El Nino have left a withered landscape. Three days hard travel has covered only 900 km, when we finally arrive at the World Vision base at Nabakok. The camp administrator Peter Montanya explains the essential survival facilities.

09.26

Peter Montanya, World Vision Administration Officer, Tonj County

As you can see down here is a trench. In a war zone bombs are thrown all over the place. There were 16 people killed in a town nearby. Another 20 were hospitalised. We deal with the situation by having trenches, people can jump in and lie flat. So bombs can fly over their heads and they can still have their lives.

10.11

Just 40 km away in Thiet they are still cleaning up after the last raid.

10.17

Destroyed houses

17 civilians were killed, their houses destroyed while scores more were wounded. A neighbour recalled the surprise attack.

10.27

Moses Moyen, Dinka

2 people died in this house. A small child is buried there. 2 people in another house. 7 people in that house and 2 people in that house over there.

10.43

Dead woman

For some of those townspeople who survived the bombings, the delays in the food convoy have proved to be fatal.

10.53

Augustin Akol, Town Elder

This woman has died of starvation because she was not able to run away. There is no food so she died... There is another one there behind this market.

Body

11.29

Crowds arriving

Clearly the priority is to distribute food from the convoy.

11.39

Food bags

Inside the hut we have a total of 296 flour bags.

11.47

News of the distribution spreads quickly, by mid-morning large crowds of desperate people have gathered.

11.54

Unruly crowds argue with soldiers

As the temperature soars into the mid-forties, tempers flare. More police arrive and the distribution continues peacefully. When the food from two trucks is finally divided it is only enough to last each family one week. The food in the remaining trucks must reach the 130,000 people in the immediate area.

12.27

Aid plane lands/ unloads food

Suddenly the government of Sudan opens 4 airfields out of the 50 in the region. Aid agencies have only 3 days to stockpile food aid in.

12.38

Starving babies

This apparent humane gesture by the Sudanese government is not all that it seems. The sporadic aid flights to the limited locations act like a magnet to the starving population, already weak with hunger. Many will not survive the long walks to the feeding centres. At Pakor, one of the airfields just open, the feeding centre is overrun with starving children. These pictures prove that famine is already a reality in parts of Southern Sudan. These children in this Medecins Sans Frontiers camp will live, but as long as the Sudanese government allows the flights to continue.

13.43

Heavy rain/ PTC

Last night the rains arrived, which means that trucks carrying food is just bogged down and not moving. This means the hungry season has really begun.

14.02

Trucks bogged down in mud

As the last trucks in the convoy struggles into Thiet, it is clear that from now on any food aid coming into Southern Sudan will have to arrive by air.

14.16

Women scrambling on board trucks

Refugees from Thiet take advantage of a break in the rain to commandeer empty trucks to take them to the South to wait out the hungry season with relatives who may have still have some food left. Tragically, this only expands the famine.

14.34

Jospeh Bwange

You are there to receive them. You cannot say I didn't know you were coming. Culturally, you receive them, if you had food for your family for 3 months it now lasts one week. Because of the newcomers coming in. After one week they start starving together.

15.12

Dinka at sunset/

lament

The looming rainy season means that food will be impossible to transport. There will be  no more convoys. Until the world notices the tragedy unfolding in Southern Sudan, and forces the government to allow in more food, there will be nothing left for the Dinka but their mournful lament.

ENDS