#AllLivesMatter supporters are being strangely quiet about the tragic Sudan famine

A new report by the UN has confirmed that two counties of South Sudan have been plunged into a famine, something the country hasn’t seen in six years.

Serge Tissot, The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) representative in South Sudan said:

Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan and our worst fears have been realised. Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive.

Declaring famine means that South Sudanese people have already begun to die of hunger, and the report estimates that around 5.5 million people – approximately 50 per cent of South Sudan’s population – will be lacking access to food, and could die if nothing is done to curb the crisis.

Three years of sectarian violence have meant that the people have been caught in the cross-hairs of a civil war, interrupting the food supply chain.

The upsurge in violence in July rendered crop production impossible in some regions.

Humanitarian crises and loss of life often produce responses in the media, and increasingly via social media.

It was in July that people first pointed out the lack of uproar for South Sudan:

Now, people are questioning #AllLivesMatter once more:

The slogan, which began as a challenge to the Black Lives Matter movement and its focus on black people and their systematic plight is still being criticised as an excuse for white supremacy.

Writing for Huffington Post, Madeleine Sweet summed up the criticism succinctly:

To posture oneself alongside the #AllLivesMatter movement is to erase the true oppression of our black population.

Yet those who subscribe to #AllLivesMatter claim either to be simply in opposition to the 'liberal left' or use it as a phrase of equality.

Accusations that #AllLivesMatter is selective continues:

And silence appears to reign supreme with news of the South Sudan famine.

More: One year on, this abandoned boy is healthy and is starting school

More: One of the 'lost boys of Sudan' has grown up and now has a job as a US diplomat