UN airdrops food aid in South Sudan to people hit by conflict

Congolese refugees line up to receive aid during a food distribution operation at the Musenyi refugee site in Giharo, on May 7, 2025. [AFP]

The World Food Programme said Monday it had airdropped food aid to help tens of thousands of people in remote parts of South Sudan where surging conflict has pushed some communities "to the brink of famine".

The unstable east African nation has seen a drastic uptick in violence since simmering rivalry between President Salva Kiir and his vice-president Riek Machar boiled over into open hostilities in March.

The tensions raised fears of a return to full-scale war in the impoverished country, the world's youngest, where a civil war killed some 400,000 people in 2013-2018.

"These distributions mark WFP's first access in over four months to deliver life-saving food and nutrition assistance to more than 40,000 people... in the most remote parts of Nasir and Ulang counties, areas only accessible by air," the United Nations agency said in a statement.

More than one million people across Upper Nile state -- which borders war-torn Sudan -- face acute hunger, including over 32,000 people already experiencing "catastrophic" levels of hunger, the WFP warned, adding the figure had tripled since conflict flared, triggering mass displacement.

Fighting has blocked main river routes, which are the most cost-effective way to reach large swathes of Upper Nile and northern Jonglei state to deliver assistance, the UN agency added.

Across South Sudan, 7.7 million people, or 57 percent of the population, face "crisis, emergency or catastrophic" levels of hunger, it said.

A funding shortfall has forced the WFP to prioritise assistance with reduced rations for only the most vulnerable 2.5 million people.

The agency has appealed for $274 million to continue life-saving operations through December.