650,000 refugees in South Sudan could lose food aid within weeks due to funding squeeze: UN agencies

More than 650,000 refugees and asylum seekers in South Sudan risk losing food aid access within weeks due to a severe funding shortfall, potentially forcing some to return to war-torn Sudan in search of help, the U.N. warned on Friday.

South Sudan faces one of the world's worst hunger crises, the World Food Program and the U.N. refugee agency said. More than 7.8 million people, over half the country's population, are experiencing acute food insecurity, while ⁠2.2 million children are acutely malnourished.

It is also receiving about 3,000 refugees and returnees a week from neighboring Sudan, where a conflict that erupted in 2023 has triggered one of the world's largest displacement crises following mass killings, rape and deliberate starvation, according to the U.N.

The last food distributions for the most vulnerable 240,000 refugees in South Sudan -- out of the 650,000 who had previously been receiving food support across the country -- would be made in September unless new funding is secured urgently, the U.N. agencies said.


Reuters