UN releases $100 Million to battle hunger in South Sudan, 5 other African countries

A mother breastfeeding a child with acute malnutrition at an MSF clinic in Aweil, in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state. [Photo: Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images]

The United Nations last week released $100 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund to help millions facing hunger in South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia and Yemen.

Millions in these seven countries cannot feed themselves and their families because of armed conflict, drought, and economic turmoil made worse by COVID-19.

According to the VOA, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine threaten to drive millions of people even closer to famine.

VOA quoted OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke as saying that Yemen, South Sudan, and Somalia are already in what the United Nations calls a Phase 5 emergency – catastrophic hunger or famine.

The United Nations launched appeals for each of the seven countries months ago for global total of $43 billion. Laerke said only 6.5% of this amount has been funded. He said the U.N. knows the $100 million it has made available for emergency relief will not solve the problems facing these countries.

Laerke added that U.N. agencies hope donors will understand the situation facing these countries and support their humanitarian operations. If not, he said, drastic cuts will have to be made in critical projects.