The World Food Programme (WFP) announced Monday it had airdropped food aid to tens of thousands in remote South Sudan.
Surging conflict has pushed some communities in the fragile nation “to the brink of famine,” the WFP warned.
Since March, violence has escalated sharply after a bitter rivalry between President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar ignited open hostilities.
This unrest revived fears of a full-scale war in South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, scarred by civil war deaths of around 400,000.
The latest aid drops mark the WFP’s first access in over four months to Nasir and Ulang counties, reachable only by air.
More than 40,000 people in these remote areas received life-saving food and nutrition assistance, the United Nations agency said.
In Upper Nile state, bordering war-torn Sudan, over one million people face acute hunger, including 32,000 enduring catastrophic starvation.
That figure has tripled since conflict flared, forcing massive displacement across the region, the WFP reported.
Fighting has blocked key river routes, the cheapest way to deliver aid to large parts of Upper Nile and northern Jonglei states.
Nationwide, 7.7 million people—over half the population—face crisis, emergency, or catastrophic hunger levels.
A severe funding gap has forced the WFP to reduce rations and prioritize assistance for only the most vulnerable 2.5 million people.
The agency urgently appealed for $274 million to sustain its life-saving operations through December.
Without swift support, millions of South Sudanese risk falling deeper into the shadows of hunger and despair.
