Hunger monitor says parts of South Sudan face famine threat after months without aid

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — No food aid has reached a conflict-hit area of South Sudan this year despite growing fears that it is headed toward famine, international food security analysts said Tuesday.

The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global monitor, estimates that 28,000 people in Nasir and Fangak counties face “catastrophic food insecurity,” the most severe level of hunger.

“An immediate and large-scale response” is required, it says.

Both counties have been historically controlled by the SPLM-IO opposition party led by suspended First Vice President Riek Machar.

Machar has been charged with treason and other crimes that he denies over an attack by a local militia on a military garrison in Nasir that South Sudan’s government says killed 250 soldiers. G