An official in Juba government in South Sudan announced, on Monday, that about 4.9 million people, more than 40% of South Sudan’s population, are in need of urgent food, agriculture and nutrition assistance, adding that several parts of the country are at the risk of looming famine.
"Famine has been declared in parts of Unity State in the northern-central part of South Sudan," according to Isaiah Chol Aruai, chairman of South Sudan’s National Bureau of Statistic, told a news conference in Juba.
South Sudan has been plagued with civil war since 2013, when President Salva Kiir fired his deputy. The political rivals started fighting and split the country along ethnic lines, leading the United Nations to warn of a potential genocide.
The fighting has prevented many farmers from harvesting their crops while hyper inflation which reached more than 800 percent last year has put the price of imported food beyond the reach of many.