(Updates with call for access from first paragraph.)
Almost a quarter of South Sudan’s population urgently needs food aid and at least 40,000 people are on the brink of catastrophe, the United Nations said, urging rival fighters to allow humanitarian access.
The numbers are “particularly worrisome because they show an increase in hunger during the post-harvest period -– a time when the country is traditionally most food secure,” the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Children’s Fund and World Food Programme said Monday in a joint e-mailed statement.
“The number of food insecure people is expected to peak during the coming lean season -– traditionally worst between April and July -- when food availability is lowest,” they said.
War that erupted in oil-producing South Sudan in December 2013 has left tens of thousands of people dead and forced more than 2 million others to flee their homes. Implementation of a peace deal signed in August by President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar has stalled amid a dispute over Kiir’s reorganization of the country into 28 states.
The UN agencies called for speedy enactment of the agreement and unrestricted access to conflict areas so supplies can be delivered.
“Prompt implementation of the peace agreement is absolutely critical to improving the food situation,” Serge Tissot, acting FAO representative in South Sudan, said in the statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: Okech Francis in Juba at fokech@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net Michael Gunn, John Viljoen
