Germany gives South Sudan $4.5m aid

Humanitarian efforts in South Sudan got a boost from Germany with $4.5 million in aid funds given to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

“This new funding will be used to provide food and nutrition assistance to vulnerable people, including the displaced and children under the age of two across the country,” WFP said in a statement Thursday.

German ambassador to South Sudan Jan Hendrik van Thiel said that his country would continue to support peace efforts in the war-ravaged nation.

We will “continue to support recovery and resilience building activities that will help the country become a food secure nation in the long term,” he said.

Germany has so far given $30 million to the WFP activities in South Sudan.

About seven million South Sudanese are in need of food and humanitarian assistance.

WFP deputy representative in South Sudan, Simon Cammelbeeck, said the support will also enable the agency deliver timely assistance to the people in need through reliable airlink across the country.

In 2018, WFP assisted about 5.1 million people through food assistance, road construction, emergency school feeding programs and treatment of malnutrition among children and pregnant women.

Germany is one of the top contributors to WFP worldwide, contributing more than $855 million last year.

It has contributed close to $141 million to South Sudan since in 2011.