The UN’s food aid body, World Food Programme (WFP), has suspended food rations to 1.7 million hungry people in South Sudan due to lack of donations.

At present, there is money for only 4.4 million people, according to Adeyinka Badejo-Sanogo, WFP Acting Director in South Sudan.

She spoke with reporters in Geneva via video link from Juba.

Rations of cereals, pulses, cooking oil and salt had to be halved last year.

Two-thirds of the country’s 11 million inhabitants currently need support.

“We are in famine prevention mode,’’ Badejo-Sanogo said.

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The country is struggling with numerous crises at the same time.

The crises include the consequences of severe floods, droughts in some parts of the country, internal conflicts and rising food prices worldwide as a result of the Russian war against Ukraine.

The organisation said it needed 426 million dollars for South Sudan in 2022.

The WFP is mainly financed by richer countries. (dpa/NAN)