UN agencies warn South Sudan funding shortfall pushes millions toward acute hunger

Juba, July 3 (IANS) South Sudan is rapidly approaching a critical tipping point as humanitarian demands outpace the current international response, two United Nations (UN) agencies warned on Friday.

The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organisation jointly noted that a devastating mix of escalating local conflict, climate shocks, and a severely underfunded aid budget has pushed the nation into its gravest hunger crisis since independence, Xinhua news agency reported.

Due to acutely limited resources, agencies have been forced to ration aid, concentrating almost exclusively on populations already facing “Catastrophe” levels of hunger — classified as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 5.

The agencies warned that this hyper-focused strategy leaves millions of others in highly vulnerable, unstable conditions without adequate support.

The IPC April-July projection shows 7.8 million people, or 55 per cent of the population, in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or worse, an increase of around 280,000 people compared to the September 2025 lean season projection.

According to the agencies, high-risk areas, including Akobo, Nyirol, Luakpiny/Nasir, and Ulang, are facing a catastrophic convergence of threats. A devastating mix of escalating local conflict, mass displacement, severe access constraints, and total market collapse has pushed these communities to the brink.

On Monday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned that South Sudan faces intensifying drought risks with seasonal forecasts by the national flood task force indicating a high likelihood of below-average rainfall and above-average temperatures across much of the country during the June-September rainy season.

“Early impact is already emerging with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), reporting that about 1,500 people have moved from areas around Kapoeta in Eastern Equatoria towards Kenya due to water scarcity and deteriorating livelihoods,” OCHA said in a report released in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

–IANS

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