Head of the WFP in South Sudan, Joyce Luma, said that the famine was “man-made” after three years of conflict across the country stifled crop production and hit farmers and rural livelihoods. Story highlights UN declares famine in South Sudan's Unity state

More than 1 million children across the country are suffering from acute malnutrition, UNICEF warns

(CNN) Famine in South Sudan has left 100,000 people on the verge of starvation and almost 5 million people, more than 40% of the country's population, in need of urgent help, aid agencies say. The situation is the worst hunger catastrophe since fighting erupted more than three years ago," said the statement signed by the World Food Programme (WFP), UN children's agency UNICEF and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO). Aruai said the impact of the war, combined with high food prices, economic disruption and low agricultural production was expected to make 4.9 million people what is termed "food insecure" between February and April, with that number rising to 5.5 million by July. "Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan and our worst fears have been realised," Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) South Sudan representative, Serge Tissot, said at the same news conference. Aid agencies, including the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the children’s fund Unicef, said that 4.9 million people – more than 40% of South Sudan’s population – are in urgent need of food.
More than 4.9 million people in South Sudan are in need of aid due to a famine.