WFP Warns Food Aid for 2 Million South Sudanese Could End
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that it could be forced to suspend food assistance to about two million vulnerable people in South Sudan within weeks unless it receives urgent funding.
WFP said it currently faces an $86 million funding gap for its operations, with an additional $416 million needed over the next six months to maintain assistance for refugees, displaced people and vulnerable host communities.
The agency said the funding crisis comes as South Sudan faces worsening conflict, displacement, economic hardship and climate shocks, compounded by the war in neighbouring Sudan.
WFP has described the situation as a convergence of crises that is pushing millions deeper into hunger. Its latest figures show that about 7.8 million people — more than half of South Sudan’s population — face high levels of acute food insecurity, while more than 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished.
Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations, said the agency was approaching a “financial cliff” at a time when humanitarian needs are at their highest level in more than a decade.
The organisation has also warned that funding shortages are threatening assistance to refugees who fled the conflict in Sudan. In August, WFP and UNHCR said the last remaining food and nutrition support for 240,000 of the most vulnerable refugees would end in September without new funding.
WFP is urging international donors to provide immediate funding while also calling on the South Sudanese government to mobilise domestic resources to support its population.
The agency said failure to close the funding gap could leave millions without a critical food lifeline and further deepen the country’s already severe humanitarian crisis.
