Humanitarian groups are warning 60 percent of South Sudan’s population will face “catastrophic” famine by the middle of next year if aid does not reach areas affected by floods, violence and the coronavirus pandemic.
A joint report by three United Nations agencies says 6.5 million people in the region are facing starvation and that number could rise by almost a million by July.
Aid agencies blame the worsening situation on the violence that has made it impossible to produce food and dangerous and difficult to deliver aid.
Last month, the UN released $7m in emergency funding to try to avert famine.
The country is still struggling to emerge from a six-year civil war that killed tens of thousands of people.
What can be done to save Africa’s youngest country?
Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra
Guests:
Matthew Hollingworth – South Sudan country director for the World Food Programme
Douglas Johnson – former member of the Abyei boundary commission and author of South Sudan: A New History for a New Nation
Geoffrey Duke – security analyst and director of the South Sudan Action Network on Small Arms
