UN assist chief Tom Fletcher says starvation is tightening its grip amid rising humanitarian wants and intensifying preventing.
Printed On 17 Apr 2026
The UN’s humanitarian chief has warned that South Sudan is at a harmful crossroads because it faces the danger of famine.
Tom Fletcher, the under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and emergency reduction coordinator, referred to as on the Safety Council on Friday to “stop South Sudan from sliding towards full-scale famine and collapse”.
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He warned that “starvation throughout South Sudan is tightening its grip”, with emergency ranges of meals insecurity anticipated for some throughout all 10 states in the course of the lean season, which lasts till the tip of July.
After spending every week within the nation, he mentioned that he feared his subsequent briefing would converse of famine. He reported “humanitarian compounds looted and vitamin centres destroyed” in areas surrounding Akobo in Jonglei State, the place greater than 140,000 individuals had been in “dire want of assist”.
“Greater than 7.5 million individuals will want meals help this yr,” he mentioned. “All of that is unfolding as floods are anticipated to proceed, reducing communities off and hitting livelihoods – as soon as once more.”
Intensifying preventing
Anita Kiki Gbeho, the pinnacle of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), advised the Safety Council that “civilians proceed to bear the brunt” amid intensifying preventing between the South Sudan Folks’s Defence Forces and the Sudan Folks’s Liberation Motion/Military in Opposition, notably in Jonglei.
Combating in South Sudan escalated late final yr, after a peace deal ending the five-year civil warfare was reached in 2018. A coalition of opposition forces seized authorities outposts in Jonglei State in December, prompting a retaliatory navy operation in late January, which pressured greater than 280,000 civilians to flee the world.
Fletcher urged the Safety Council to press for unhindered humanitarian entry, improve versatile funds and demand that every one events absolutely respect humanitarian legislation and the safety of civilians and infrastructure.
Because the council considers renewing the UNMISS mandate, which is in place till April 30, Gbeho mentioned that “the dimensions and urgency of wants on the bottom should not but matched by the kind of sustained dedication and funding required to totally meet the shared ambition of sustainable path to peace.”
