UN footage highlights worsening food crisis

May 12, 2016 6:33 AM

From January to March, some 2.8 million people were classed as being in "crisis" or "emergency" food situations, with about 40,000 thought to be suffering an outright famine.

Residents displaced due to the recent fighting between government and rebel forces in the Upper Nile capital Malakal wait at a World Food Program (WFP) outpost where thousands have taken shelter in Kuernyang Payam, South Sudan May 2, 2015.

The UN World Food Programme on Wednesday released video highlighting a worsening food crisis in South Sudan, where up to to 5.3 million people could face severe food shortages over the March to September lean season.

WFP footage showed young children waiting at a food distribution centre in the northern Bahr El Ghazal region for malnutrition tests as well as one family saying they were leaving South Sudan for Darfur because of the food crisis.

The crisis comes despite attempts to end more than two years of fighting, which began in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir sacked his first vice president Riek Machar, triggering ethnically charged violence.