The forgotten famine

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The United Nations says the deepening humanitarian emergency in South Sudan is the "worst in the world" and warns 50,000 children could die this year unless the aid effort is scaled up. But it’s largely a forgotten crisis, overshadowed by strife in other parts of the world including Gaza, Iraq, Syria and Ukraine. Aid agencies say they've found it difficult to raise money to fund operations in South Sudan, despite a growing threat of famine.

Caitlin Brady, an aid worker with Save the Children in South Sudan, said about 4 million people in the country are "very, very” hungry – more than 2 million of them children.

"It’s a very dire situation," she said. "Responding to hunger is probably the number one priority. The aid community has stepped up to try and respond but we need to do more."

The Australian government has contributed $13.4 million to help the hungry in South Sudan since the outbreak of the crisis in December. But that’s less than the $15 million committed to humanitarian assistance in Gaza over the past fortnight and only about a third of what the government gave to assist victims of Typhoon Haiyan which hit the Philippines last year.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation warned on July 31 that "funding for life-saving assistance has dwindled" in South Sudan even though food security in the country is deteriorating. Edmond Mulet, the UN assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations, underscored the gravity of the emergency last week when he said South Sudan was "on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe".

Thousands of farmers have fled their land because of the fighting, especially in areas like Akobo which are no longer under government control. Here, parents are foraging for grass and berries in a desperate bid to feed their families. Nearly a third of children aged under five in Akobo district are malnourished.

Nykuoth Long, a mother of eight from Dengjok village, is pessimistic about her children’s prospects. Her eight-month-old daughter, Nyakong, is severely malnourished but because aid groups working in the village have run out of the nutritious peanut paste used to combat malnutrition she cannot be treated.

"If it stays like this my children may die," Nykuoth said.

In 2010 aid officials declared Akobo the "hungriest place on earth" following two years of drought. Now the district is famished again thanks to war.

The conflict, which has taken at least 10,000 lives, is focused in three states of South Sudan and aid officials estimate about a third of the population faces "dangerous levels of food insecurity".

Cholera has broken out. There have been 5300 cases so far, including 115 deaths, meaning the cholera fatality rate in South Sudan is now well above what health experts deem to be an "emergency threshold".

The aid effort has been hampered by deadly attacks on humanitarian workers. Last week six unarmed aid workers were killed in the northern region of Maban where more than 100,000 refugees are sheltering. US Secretary of State John Kerry said the killings were "simply appalling" and called on all parties to refrain from intimidating humanitarian workers. But the killings will "adversely and dramatically impact humanitarian operations" in the region, aid officials said.

Tens of thousands of civilians are sheltering at UN bases in South Sudan  because they fear violence. Aid workers say conditions for 40,000 people at the UN camp in the northern town of Bentiu are "horrific"  because the site has been inundated with sewage-contaminated floodwater. 

Civil war erupted in December after President Salva Kiir accused his vice-president, Riek Machar, of staging a coup. Mr Machar denied the allegation but marshalled a rebel army to fight the government. The political stoush has split the country along ethnic lines, sparking bloodshed between South Sudan’s two biggest tribal groups – Kiir’s Dinkas and Machar’s Nuers. The warring parties are under intense international pressure to reconcile but past ceasefire agreements have not stopped the bloodshed. Peace talks resumed in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, last week but an earlier agreement to form a "transitional goverment" by August 10 has not been met. Mr Kerry said the failure to meet the deadline was an "outrage and an insult to the people of South Sudan."

About 1.1 million people in South Sudan have been displaced because of the fighting and many of them have been living rough in makeshift camps. Another 434,000 people have fled to neighbouring countries especially Ethiopia and Uganda.

* Matt Wade and photographer Edwina Pickles were supported by Save the Children Australia to report from South Sudan.

How you can help:

Save the Children South Sudan Crisis Appeal

1800 76 00 11