UN to expand food aid to South Sudan

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said Saturday it plans to expand its emergency programmes in South Sudan.

WFP said the expansion of food aid is based on a new analysis that the conflict in South Sudan is pushing the country toward a hunger catastrophe.

"A hunger catastrophe can still be avoided, but humanitarian agencies must be allowed to reach tens of thousands of people in need before it's too late," Xinhua quoted Mike Sackett, WFP's Country Director ad interim as saying in a statement received in Nairobi.

WFP statement comes as provisional results of the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis find that food insecurity is deepening to alarming levels in areas isolated by conflict, particularly in several counties of Unity State, where up to three quarters of the population currently face severe hunger.

According to the analysis, famine is not predicted anywhere in South Sudan in the next three months, but it will become a serious risk in some areas later in the year unless adequate humanitarian assistance can be delivered.