South Sudan still at risk of catastrophic famine, warns David Miliband

With the rainy season about to come to an end and flooded roads to reopen, diplomats and local observers are fearful of a resumption of hostilities that could tip the country into a full-blown famine.

Ceasefires brokered by African Union-back negotiations have so far failed to hold, with government and rebel forces fighting last month around the oil hub of Bentiu, with more than 100,000 people now seeking shelter from the violence in UN safe havens.

"The African Union needs support from big outside countries," Mr Miliband said, recalling US-UK-Norway coalition that brokered the 2006 comprehensive ceasefire deal that ended the Sudanese civil war, paving the way for an independence referendum in 2011 that created South Sudan.

"China is important as well, not least because of the oil," he added, "This does need some bigger geopolitical weight thrown into it. Pressure and engagement can really make a difference. It can be Africa-led but it enormously benefits from the heft of the big powers."

Field workers have relayed horrific stories from women and children fleeing the fighting who were forced to choose between crossing crocodile-infested rivers or certain death at the hands of advancing militias.

"We heard gunshots in the town. Gunshots cannot differentiate between soldiers and civilians. We ran to the bush and were followed. The only alternative was to cross the river. Some people drowned and some were eaten by crocodiles," recalled one refugee.

Those lucky enough to reach the Mingkaman camp in Awerial County on the western banks of the River Nile in Lakes State found 100,000 people had already arrived before them and were now living in squalor.

"We came [to Mingkaman camp] empty-handed. People were living under trees.

There was not any water. There were so many diseases. We were given a few rations so that we could survive. If there is not good care, people will suffer," the survivor added.

The crisis has taken on an international dimension, with some 500,000 refugees spilling over into the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya and Sudan, according to the IRC report Uprooted by Conflict: South Sudan's Displacement Crisis.

An international aid effort launched earlier this year has "temporarily averted" the threat of famine, senior World Food Programme officials said last month, but warned that household food stocks would soon be running dangerously low again.

As well as a renewed diplomatic effort, Mr Miliband also called for the international community to step up its funding for South Sudan, a country that – if properly governed – is blessed with oil and agricultural resources.

Last year's United Nations appeal for $1.8bn (£1.13bn) for the South Sudan crisis had only been 61 per cent funded by November 1, with U.S., the UK, Norway and the EU providing the bulk of the funding, the report said.

The WFP has estimated that by the end of this year more than 2.5 million people will be rated at levels three and four on a five-point scale where five is famine, with the number expected to rise to 3.7 million in the first three months of 2015.

The IRC report, citing field workers' firsthand reports, said that many families had been forced to sell livestock to feed their families this year, leaving themselves potentially unable to feed themselves next year.

"In the coming months, without these assets, families will be hard pressed to obtain food," the report warned, adding that fighting had disrupted harvests and cut supplies to markets where prices were expected to more than double in conflict-affected areas. "These and other factors could result in famine conditions in 2015."