Almost six million people in South Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance.
The World Food Programme says the country is heading towards one of the worst food catastrophes of the last 30 years. WFP adds that it is short of over 200 million dollars in an emergency request made to feed one million people.
A donor’s conference is set for May 20th. UNICEF also warns that up to 50 thousand children could die of malnutrition this year. Thousands have been killed in recent ethnically targeted massacres in South Sudan
Meanwhile Parties in the south Sudan conflict have begun face to face negotiation.
The talks taking place in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa are aimed at ending a four-month-old civil war. According to regional mediators ceasefire is high on the Agenda.The talks which were scheduled for Monday had been postponed several times due to disagreements between the two factions.
The resumption of talks comes amid mounting global outrage over a wave of atrocities committed by both sides in the conflict, with both government forces loyal to President Salva Kiir and rebels backing ex-vice president Riek Machar implicated in massacres, rapes, attacks on UN bases and child soldier recruitment. Aid workers are also warning that the country is at risk from famine.
