Hunger could kill 50k S Sudan kids: UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that up to 50,000 malnourished children under the age of five are likely to die in South Sudan within months unless they receive urgent treatment.

UNICEF made the warning in a statement on Friday and added that conditions in the country have worsened since fighting between government troops and rebel forces loyal to the former vice president, Riek Machar, broke out four months ago.

“Now the ongoing conflict has pushed them to the edge — unless treatment is scaled up immediately, up to 50,000 children under the age of five are likely to die,” the UN agency said.

In addition, UNICEF said nearly a quarter of a million children will suffer severe acute malnutrition by the end of this year if more measures are not taken to tackle hunger.

“Sadly, worse is yet to come. If conflict continues, and farmers miss the planting season, we will see child malnutrition on a scale never before experienced here,” said Jonathan Veitch, UNICEF representative in South Sudan.
The UN agency said that its immediate goal is to treat 150,000 severely malnourished children under five with food supplements, vitamins and water purification tablets as well as to give help to pregnant and nursing women in South Sudan.

The fighting between troops of South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, who is from the Dinka ethnic group, and Machar, a Nuer, erupted around Juba on December 15, 2013.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war between the army and defectors, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president’s tribe against Machar’s.

The violence continues in South Sudan despite a ceasefire signed on January 23 to end weeks of heavy fighting in the world’s youngest nation.