UN warns 500,000 more people will need humanitarian aid in South Sudan

Some 9.4 million people in South Sudan will need humanitarian assistance and protection services next year, half a million more than the current number, the United Nations said in a report Friday.

According to the 2023 South Sudan Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) report, more people will face food insecurity in 2023. Currently, nearly a third of 12.4 million people living in South Sudan are facing severe food insecurity.

Humanitarian conditions have been worsened by endemic violence, conflict, access constraints, operational interference, public health challenges and climate change effects such as flooding and drought, the report said.

The need for assistance will be greatest in counties in the Upper Nile and Western Equatoria States that have been facing conflict.

Something has to change in South Sudan because the number of people in need continues to rise every year and the resources continue to decrease, said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, the Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, in a statement.

Nyanti appealed to the government to ensure conditions of peace and to foster development in order to reduce the need for humanitarian aid.

Violence continues to plague the country, posing a threat to a peace deal signed in 2018 by former rivals President Salva Kiir and deputy Riek Machar.

Machar has in recent times accused Kiir of violating the peace agreement.

Hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions displaced in a civil war before the peace deal was signed.