The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has resumed life-saving food aid deliveries in remote areas of South Sudan, airdropping critical supplies to tens of thousands of people as escalating conflict pushes parts of the country toward famine.
The WFP confirmed on Monday that it had successfully delivered food and nutritional support to over 40,000 people in Nasir and Ulang counties, regions in Upper Nile state that have been inaccessible for more than four months due to intensified fighting.
The areas, the agency said, could only be reached by air after conflict blocked the main river routes traditionally used for aid transport.
“These distributions mark WFP’s first access in over four months to deliver life-saving food and nutrition assistance… in the most remote parts of Nasir and Ulang counties,” the agency said in a statement.
Violence in South Sudan has surged since March, when longstanding tensions between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar erupted into open hostilities, raising fears of a return to the full-scale civil war that devastated the nation between 2013 and 2018, killing an estimated 400,000 people.
Upper Nile state, bordering war-ravaged Sudan, is among the worst-hit, with more than one million people facing acute hunger, including at least 32,000 experiencing “catastrophic” levels of food insecurity. The WFP said that figure has tripled since the conflict reignited, forcing mass displacement and severing key supply routes.
Nationwide, 7.7 million South Sudanese, around 57 percent of the population, are grappling with crisis, emergency, or catastrophic hunger levels, the WFP warned. A severe funding shortfall has limited aid operations, forcing the agency to ration food and prioritize only the most vulnerable 2.5 million people.
The WFP has urgently appealed for $274 million to sustain its operations in South Sudan through the end of the year.
“As the situation deteriorates, time is running out,” the agency said, calling for immediate global support to prevent an even deeper humanitarian disaster.
Written By Rodney Mbua
