Three United Nations agencies warned on Thursday of looming famine in a conflict-stricken part of South Sudan. People in 11 of 13 counties in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state now face emergency levels of hunger, the World Food Program, the U.N. Children’s Fund, and the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a joint statement. Upper Nile is the scene of fighting between government troops and armed militias that oppose the government of President Salva Kiir. The fighting has escalated in recent months, “destroying homes, disrupting livelihoods, and impeding the delivery of humanitarian aid,” the statement said.
Some 32,000 people are in hunger conditions categorized as “catastrophic,” more than three times the previous projection, it said. Although some other parts of South Sudan are seeing improvements in food security, some 57 percent of the east African country’s 11.5 million people face acute food insecurity. Famine was declared in parts of South Sudan in 2017.
“Conflict doesn’t just destroy homes and livelihoods, it tears communities apart, cuts off access to markets, and sends food prices spiraling upward. Long-term peace is essential, but right now, it is critical our teams are able to access and safely distribute food to families caught in conflict in Upper Nile, to bring them back from the brink and prevent famine,” Mary-Ellen McGroarty, the World Food Program representative in South Sudan, said in the statement by the UN agencies.
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