One-third of South Sudanese face severe food shortages, UN agencies warn

Three UN agencies on Wednesday warned that South Sudan was experiencing an unprecedented level of food insecurity, with more than a third of the population in urgent need of assistance, a UN spokesman said here.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) said that up to 4.8 million people in South Sudan will be facing severe food shortages over the coming months, said Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman.

The level of food insecurity in South Sudan was at the highest since the start of the conflict two and a half years ago, the UN agencies warned.

The risk of a hunger catastrophe continued to threaten parts of the country, Haq said at a daily news briefing here.

This number did not include 350,000 residents of the UN Protection of Civilians areas or other camps for displaced people, who currently were entirely dependent on humanitarian assistance, he said.

"Food insecurity and conflict are also forcing many families to leave South Sudan for neighboring countries," he said.

In the last few months alone, an estimated 100,000 South Sudanese have crossed into Sudan, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, and this number was expected to increase to more than 150,000 by the end of June, he said.

Tens of thousands of people have fled fighting in northwestern South Sudan between government troops and a newly formed rebel group.

Nearly 70,000 people have fled their homes in the town of Wau since Friday. About 10,000 of them have taken shelter at a United Nations base in the area, where streams of displaced continued to arrive, reports said on Wednesday. Enditem