JUBA: The worst locust outbreak that parts of East Africa have seen in 70 years has reached South Sudan, a country where roughly half the population already faces hunger after years of civil war, officials announced Tuesday.
Around 2,000 locusts were spotted inside the country, Agriculture Minister Onyoti Adigo told reporters. Authorities will try to control the outbreak, he added.
The locusts have been seen in Eastern Equatoria state near the borders with Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. All have been affected by the outbreak that has been influenced by the changing climate in the region.
The situation in those three countries “remains extremely alarming,” the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said in its latest Locust Watch update Monday. Locusts also have reached Sudan, Eritrea, Tanzania and more recently Uganda.
The soil in South Sudan’s Eastern Equatoria has a sandy nature that allows the locusts to lay eggs easily, said Meshack Malo, country representative with the FAO.
At this stage “if we are not able to deal with them ... it will be a problem,” he said.
South Sudan is even less prepared than other countries in the region for a locust outbreak, and its people are arguably more vulnerable. More than 5 million people are severely food insecure, the UN humanitarian office says in its latest assessment, and some 860,000 children are malnourished.
Five years of civil war shattered South Sudan’s economy, and lingering insecurity since a 2018 peace deal continues to endanger humanitarians trying to distribute aid. Another local aid worker was shot and killed last week, the UN said Tuesday.
The locusts have traveled across the region in swarms the size of major cities. Experts say their only effective control is aerial spraying with pesticides, but UN and local authorities have said more aircraft and pesticides are required. A handful of planes have been active in Kenya and Ethiopia.
The UN has said $76 million is needed immediately. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Ethiopia said the US would donate another $8 million to the effort. That follows an earlier $800,000.
The number of overall locusts could grow up to 500 times by June, when drier weather begins, experts have said. Until then, the fear is that more rains in the coming weeks will bring fresh vegetation to feed a new generation of the voracious insects.
South Sudanese ministers called for a collective regional response to the outbreak that threatens to devastate crops and pasturage.
![]()
Huge locust outbreak in East Africa reaches South Sudan
Short Url
https://arab.news/4da2f
Huge locust outbreak in East Africa reaches South Sudan
- South Sudan is even less prepared than other countries in the region for a locust outbreak
Plans for attack in New Orleans thwarted, authorities say
BATON ROUGE: Plans to “carry out an attack” in New Orleans were thwarted after an ex-Marine was arrested while on the way to the Louisiana city with guns and body armor in the car, according to court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Micah James Legnon, 28, was charged with threats in interstate commerce. Federal authorities said they had been surveilling Legnon due to ties to an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group. Four members of the group were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert, east of Los Angeles, as they were rehearsing a foiled plot to set off bombs in Southern California on New Year’s Eve, authorities said.
Plans of an attack in New Orleans began to intensify after several hundred immigration agents were deployed to southeast Louisiana, authorities said. The enforcement operation, dubbed “Catahoula Crunch,” has a goal of 5,000 arrests. The crackdown is the latest in a series of enforcement operations that have also unfolded in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Legnon believed it was time to “recreate” Waco with an attack in New Orleans, authorities said in court documents. They pointed to a Dec. 4 chat message by Legnon written under the alias “Kateri The Witch” the day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived in New Orleans. Legnon’s alias had “she/her” written beside it, but jail records referred to Legnon as male.
Investigators believe Legnon’s chat message referred to the 1993 siege at a Waco, Texas, compound that ended after 51 days and the deaths of four federal agents, a religious leader and 76 of his followers.
Eight days after the post in the group chat, Legnon appeared to place a weapon into a car, an FBI agent surveilling Legnon said in the court document.
“On my way” to New Orleans, Legnon said in a group chat. Legnon then shared a video of a gun and bullet proof vest and wrote “just incase.”
After Legnon’s Dec. 12 arrest, agents found an assault rifle, a pistol, a gas canister and body armor inside the car. Inside Legnon’s apartment in New Iberia, Louisiana, agents found sniper training manuals, SWAT training manuals, assault rifles, and rounds of ammunition.
Court documents did not list an attorney who could speak on Legnon’s behalf. The Office of the State Public Defender and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana did not immediately respond to requests for information on Legnon’s attorney, and jail officials said they did not know who might be representing Legnon.
Officials say Legnon “is suspected to be associated with” the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The group calls for “liberation through decolonization tribal sovereignty,” based on court documents. Federal authorities described the group as “a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government and anti-capitalist group.”
In the California case, a member of the group created a detailed plan to bomb five or more businesses across Southern California on New Year’s Eve. The plot included planting backpacks filled with complex pipe bombs that were set to be detonated simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Two of the group’s members also had discussed plans to attack ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in 2026, according to the criminal complaint.
Some details of the foiled plot in California are eerily similar to this year’s deadly attack in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter.
In the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove his truck down Bourbon Street, plowing into New Year’s reveler’s — killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. Prior to the attack, Jabbar, who was later fatally shot by police, had placed multiple bombs in coolers around the French Quarter. None of the explosive devices detonated. Jabbar was inspired by DAESH, authorities said.
Micah James Legnon, 28, was charged with threats in interstate commerce. Federal authorities said they had been surveilling Legnon due to ties to an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group. Four members of the group were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert, east of Los Angeles, as they were rehearsing a foiled plot to set off bombs in Southern California on New Year’s Eve, authorities said.
Plans of an attack in New Orleans began to intensify after several hundred immigration agents were deployed to southeast Louisiana, authorities said. The enforcement operation, dubbed “Catahoula Crunch,” has a goal of 5,000 arrests. The crackdown is the latest in a series of enforcement operations that have also unfolded in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Legnon believed it was time to “recreate” Waco with an attack in New Orleans, authorities said in court documents. They pointed to a Dec. 4 chat message by Legnon written under the alias “Kateri The Witch” the day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived in New Orleans. Legnon’s alias had “she/her” written beside it, but jail records referred to Legnon as male.
Investigators believe Legnon’s chat message referred to the 1993 siege at a Waco, Texas, compound that ended after 51 days and the deaths of four federal agents, a religious leader and 76 of his followers.
Eight days after the post in the group chat, Legnon appeared to place a weapon into a car, an FBI agent surveilling Legnon said in the court document.
“On my way” to New Orleans, Legnon said in a group chat. Legnon then shared a video of a gun and bullet proof vest and wrote “just incase.”
After Legnon’s Dec. 12 arrest, agents found an assault rifle, a pistol, a gas canister and body armor inside the car. Inside Legnon’s apartment in New Iberia, Louisiana, agents found sniper training manuals, SWAT training manuals, assault rifles, and rounds of ammunition.
Court documents did not list an attorney who could speak on Legnon’s behalf. The Office of the State Public Defender and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana did not immediately respond to requests for information on Legnon’s attorney, and jail officials said they did not know who might be representing Legnon.
Officials say Legnon “is suspected to be associated with” the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The group calls for “liberation through decolonization tribal sovereignty,” based on court documents. Federal authorities described the group as “a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government and anti-capitalist group.”
In the California case, a member of the group created a detailed plan to bomb five or more businesses across Southern California on New Year’s Eve. The plot included planting backpacks filled with complex pipe bombs that were set to be detonated simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Two of the group’s members also had discussed plans to attack ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in 2026, according to the criminal complaint.
Some details of the foiled plot in California are eerily similar to this year’s deadly attack in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter.
In the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove his truck down Bourbon Street, plowing into New Year’s reveler’s — killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. Prior to the attack, Jabbar, who was later fatally shot by police, had placed multiple bombs in coolers around the French Quarter. None of the explosive devices detonated. Jabbar was inspired by DAESH, authorities said.
Latest updates
© 2025 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.