UN briefing warns South Sudan risks famine as displacement and attacks cut aid

Tom Fletcher, a presenter to the United Nations Security Council, warned that South Sudan is sliding toward famine as conflict, displacement and collapsing services leave millions without help.

"Two out of every three people need humanitarian support this year," Fletcher said, and he noted that the $1.46 billion humanitarian plan for the country was only 22% funded. He told the Council that renewed fighting in Jonglei State and elsewhere has driven mass displacement and cut communities off from assistance.

Fletcher gave detailed examples from Jonglei and Akobo, saying a recent inter-agency team found more than 140,000 people in dire need around Akobo County and that renewed violence had forced aid workers to leave. He described Wicak Akobo Hospital as having served more than 100,000 people before it was later "stripped bare," with "medicines, equipment, beds, a lifeline for this entire community, all gone." He said many of those he met have since died.

Citing the World Health Organization, Fletcher said 1.35 million people across Jonglei State had lost access to health care after 26 facilities were destroyed or forced to close, and he reported rising cholera and ongoing measles transmission.

The briefing highlighted cross-border pressures from the war in Sudan, with Fletcher reporting some 439,000 Sudanese refugees and 917,000 returnees arriving in South Sudan. In Renk, he said, more than 30,000 people arrived in three months, almost two-thirds of them women, and thousands remain in transit centers with limited services amid reports of severe malnutrition and deaths among older people.

Fletcher warned that emergency food insecurity at IPC phase 4 is expected across parts of the country through the lean season and said "I fear that my next briefing to you on South Sudan will speak of famine." He estimated more than 7.5 million people will need food assistance this year and cautioned that expected flooding could further isolate communities and damage livelihoods.

He praised humanitarian staff for delivering aid under dangerous conditions and cited response figures: in Jonglei alone more than 113,000 people have already received food this year and partners have provided more than 14 tons of emergency health supplies. Fletcher said he had allocated $13 million to support UNHAS flights to sustain air access.

As concrete steps, Fletcher urged the Council to: press for rapid, unhindered humanitarian access by removing red tape, checkpoints and high fees and by guaranteeing predictable air access; swiftly step up flexible funding for the lean season; and use its influence on parties to demand full respect for international humanitarian law and to support implementation of the revitalized peace agreement. He warned that the recent closure of a UN temporary base in Akobo because of funding shortfalls risks widening security gaps and undermining returns.

The presiding officer thanked Fletcher for his briefing. The Council has not recorded a formal decision in this statement; Fletcher's recommendations were offered as calls for Council action and for member states and partners to increase support.