UN WARNS OF IMMINENT FAMINE IN SOUTH SUDAN

Three United Nations agencies warned Thursday of imminent famine in a conflict-hit region of South Sudan.
Residents of 11 of the 13 counties in South Sudan’s Upper Nile state are now facing emergency levels of hunger, the World Food Programme, the UN Children’s Fund and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations said in a joint statement.
The Upper Nile is the scene of fighting between government troops and armed militias opposing the government of President Salva Kiir. Fighting has intensified in recent months, “destroying homes, disrupting livelihoods and preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid,”
Some 32,000 people are suffering from hunger in conditions described as “catastrophic” , three times more than previously predicted.