A/HRC/45/CRP.3 State, including incidents involving targeted violence against humanitarian personnel and assets.186 3. Akobo County (2014-2020) “As soon as the peace is back, everybody will go back home and start cultivating”. —Nuer man, aged 58 years, from Akobo (December 2019)187 102. Bordering Ethiopia, Akobo County is approximately 450 kilometres from Juba. One of the 11 counties that make up Jonglei State, Akobo County comprises the Akobo East and Akobo West geographic divisions. Prior to the onset of armed conflict in December 2013, businesspersons and traders were able to freely move goods into Akobo County.188 Goods including vital foodstuffs were imported from neighbouring Ethiopia by boat, however, given the poor road conditions,189 which also made it difficult to connect Akobo to more urban hubs such as Bor, Juba, and Malakal.190 Akobo County fell under opposition control in 2014, and has been an SPLA-IO (RM) stronghold since that time. 103. Beginning in early 2014, and as conflict and insecurity escalated throughout various pockets of Jonglei State, civilians residing in Akobo and its environs relocated to the centre of the County and, as the population numbers swelled, access to adequate food correspondingly declined.191 Given the poor condition of the roads surrounding Akobo County and the influx of people increasing the number of residents, civilians described to the Commission how businesspersons and traders began marking up the prices of food items to cover their import and transport expenses, making it difficult for many residents to afford even basic dietary staples192 (see para. 108, below). In response to the crisis, a succession of aid organisations began providing humanitarian assistance,193 though Government forces have systematically and arbitrarily denied them access to civilians in Akobo since at least April 2017 (see para. 107, below). 104. At the time of writing (August 2020), civilians in Akobo County suffer from two levels of food insecurity. Akobo East is designated under the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) as Phase 3, denoting that civilians are suffering from “Crisis” levels of food insecurity, and that households suffer from high or above-usual acute malnutrition.194 As per the IPC, food was to be delivered by international actors to Akobo East every 90 days.195 When Government forces attacked northern Jonglei, however, they also looted food items which led to a decision by the United Nations agency to deliver food to Akobo East every six months, instead of every three months,196 though deliveries are often further delayed.197 The situation in Akobo West is more dire, and therefore food 186 South Sudan: Annual Humanitarian Access Review (January - December 2018), UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR THE COORDINATION OF HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS (OCHA), 25 FEBRUARY 2019, available at https://reliefweb.int/report/southsudan/south-sudan-annual-humanitarian-access-review-january-december-2018. 187 ERN 101870 – 101875, para. 16. 188 ERN 103560 – 103565, para. 5. 189 ERN 103560 – 103565, para. 5. 190 ERN 103371 – 103376, para. 5; ERN 103701 – 103714, para. 34. 191 ERN 103566 – 103570, para. 6. 192 ERN 103371 – 103376, para. 5. 193 ERN 103399 – 103406, para. 5. 194 Or that households are “marginally able to meet minimum food needs but only by depleting essential livelihood assets or through crisis-coping strategies”. See Integrated Phase Classification, FAMINE EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS NETWORK (FEWS NET), available at https://fews.net/IPC. See also note 5, supra. 195 ERN 103399 – 103406, para. 6. 196 ERN 103399 – 103406, para. 7. 197 ERN 103399 – 103406, para. 8. 26