“It is a catastrophic situation: we need to restore peace in the country and act now before it is too late”, Mgr. Erkolano Lodu Tombe, Bishop of Yei and President of Caritas South Sudan, said in an interview with SIR news agency. “There is no food, no peace, and people are suffering”, he explained. “The situation is very bad, there is no stability. There is a terrible economic crisis, and people are starving not just in conflict areas. Even in the cities there is no money; the market price of products has gone through the roof and people cannot afford to buy food. There are no medicines, and people are falling ill. Children cannot go to school because their parents cannot pay for their studies”. In war-torn areas, “people are frightened and forced to flee. Some groups are also targeting civilians: they set villages on fire, and kill people in their homes. Many have taken refuge in Uganda, Congo, Sudan, and Ethiopia. Others are displaced on the outskirts of cities, like in Juba”. The government has declared famine in South Sudan two weeks ago, “but it is already too late”, Bishop Tombe remarked. “It should have acted earlier, because now the situation has worsened. It would take time to raise the money we need, and take political action. People may starve before effective help reaches them: food, medicines, drinking water”. His diocese of Yei is one of the most affected by war, with more than 100,000 people trapped inside the city: “fighting suddenly resumed in July last year, and people started to flee and pour into the cities. Roads in Yei are closed: people can neither go out nor receive help; only airlifted aid can reach them. Even outside of the cities, people are suffering a lot”. As a Church, he said, “we try to be close to our people, with our priests and nuns. But if no action is taken now, the situation will become even more catastrophic because the war does not stop”.