UN warns of deteriorating humanitarian situation in South Sudan

South Sudan faces worsening humanitarian situation as more than 7 million people are facing food insecurity and an unprecedented outbreak of malaria is affecting almost all regions in the world's youngest country, a UN spokesman said here Monday.

"Humanitarian agencies report that an estimated 7.5 million people are now food insecure and an unprecedented malaria outbreak is affecting nearly all the states in South Sudan," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, citing the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Over 2.3 million people have been forced to flee their homes since the conflict began, the spokesman said at a daily news briefing here.

Meanwhile, the UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, strongly condemned the armed robbery of the Nile Hope compound for the non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Juba on Friday in which aid workers were held at gunpoint and significant assets were taken.

"This is the latest in a string of violent incidents affecting aid agencies," Dujarric said, adding that in October alone, humanitarian partners reported 32 cases of attempted or successful robbery, burglary and looting, including 15 in Juba the capital alone.

"This is unacceptable and must stop. I call on all actors to respect and protect humanitarian staff and assets," Owusu said.

In addition, OCHA said the robbery "is absolutely reprehensible and those responsible must be identified and held to account," adding that the staff of Nile Hope and other humanitarian workers "work day in and day out in dangerous and difficult locations across South Sudan to help people in dire need."

"I call on all relevant actors, including government, to work together to strengthen our collective resolve to protect the safety and security of humanitarian workers," said Owusu.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and defectors led by his former deputy Riek Machar.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president's Dinka tribe against Machar's Nuer ethnic group.

The clashes have left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced around 1.9 million people to flee their homes. Enditem