South Sudan: Upper Nile Fighting Puts 60,000 Malnourished Children at Greater Risk – UN

Over 60,000 malnourished children in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State are at risk of plunging deeper into malnutrition as treatment supplies run critically low and resupply efforts are hampered, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF warned on Thursday. According to a joint statement from the two UN agencies, intensified fighting along the White Nile River has meant no humanitarian supplies have reached the area in almost a month…According to the statement, in mid-April, barges carrying 1,000 metric tonnes of food and nutrition supplies bound for Upper Nile state were forced to return due to insecurity…Due to security concerns and the high value of nutrition supplies, WFP and UNICEF are unable to preposition stock in insecure areas, as doing so would leave health facilities and warehouses increasingly vulnerable to looting, the joint statement said. Already, in Upper Nile, almost 2,000 cartons of life-saving nutrition supplies (around 26 metric tonnes) have been looted since the onset of the conflict, robbing around 1,900 children of their only chance of treatment and recovery. (Radio Tamazuj)