Hiding in swamps to escape militias, families in the grip of famine are forced to eat WEEDS to survive as 100,000 face starvation following three years of war in South Sudan

Families facing starvation in war-torn South Sudan have been forced to eat water lillies and weeds in order to survive, with experts fearing catastrophe as the crisis deepens.

The nation has been gripped in a man-made famine after three years of civil war, and a leaked United Nations report said there is no end in sight.

War has decimated agriculture in the north African state, and an estimated 5.5 million people will be at risk of starvation by July, the UN has said.

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Last week it declared that parts of South Sudan are experiencing famine, meaning people are already dying from hunger. 

Around 100,000 people are facing imminent starvation, and more than a quarter of a million children are severely malnourished.

Heartbreaking images from the north African state show malnourished children battling to survive in the oil-rich country.

Thousands of families have been forced to live in swamps as they hide from gunmen, who have claimed tens of thousands of lives since the war began in 2013.

An estimated three million people have been displaced in the conflict. 

George Fominyen, spokesman from the World Food Programme, said: 'They have been living on water lilies, they have been living on roots, from weeds in the Nile, at most they eat once in a day.'

Serge Tissot, a representative of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said: 'Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan and our worst fears have been realised. Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive.

'The people are predominantly farmers and war has disrupted agriculture. They’ve lost their livestock, even their farming tools. For months there has been a total reliance on whatever plants they can find and fish they can catch.'

Among those forced into hiding from marauding gunmen is Sara Dit, among the 100,000 facing imminent starvation in the counties of Leer and Mayendit.

The mother-of-ten told Reuters: 'The children are sick but what can I do? There are no hospitals near us and we can't move far from where we are hiding. 

'My older children go fishing but we can't get enough because we don't have tools.'

Her four-year-old son was being treated in a temporary nutrition clinic set up by UNICEF, the UN agency dedicated to children, where staff said he would die without immediate help.

Mother of six Nyaluat Chol said her family had survived on water lilies and palm fruit for the past year.

The 31-year-old stated: 'We have been running from fighting for a long time. We settled in the island because it's much better there. But we can't leave to go buy food. We eat the weeds floating on the river, sometimes we get fish.'

It is estimated that around 20,000 people emerged from the swamps at the weekend after hearing the UN was registering people for emergency rations in the village of Thonyor.

Many were given fishing nets and rods to help them until food arrives. 

Nearly six years after independence from Sudan, South Sudan has just 120 miles of paved roads. 

The war has seen inflation soar to 800 per cent year-on-year, leaving the population unable to afford basic food items.

Jeremy Hopkins, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) representative in South Sudan, said: 'More than one million children are currently estimated to be acutely malnourished across South Sudan - over a quarter of a million children are already severely malnourished. 

'If we do not reach these children with urgent aid many of them will die.'

And World Food Programme country director Joyce Luma said: 'This famine is man-made. WFP and the entire humanitarian community have been trying with all our might to avoid this catastrophe, mounting a humanitarian response of a scale that quite frankly would have seemed impossible three years ago. 

'But we have also warned that there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve in the absence of meaningful peace and security, both for relief workers and the crisis-affected people they serve.'   

Last week the British government announced South Sudan and Somalia will receive £100 million each in emergency UK aid to fight famine.

International Development Secretary Priti Patel announced the new packages of UK aid for 2017/18 and called on the global community to step up their support in helping those in need.