South Sudan clashes block aid to 60,000 malnourished children

By Reuters

Fighting along the Nile River in South Sudan has prevented humanitarian aid from reaching more than 60,000 malnourished children in the northeast of the country for almost a month, two United Nations agencies said on Thursday.

The U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP) and agency for children (UNICEF) said they expect nutrition supplies for Upper Nile State, which has some of the highest rates of malnutrition in the country, to run out by the end of May.

“Children are already the first to suffer during emergencies. If we can’t get nutrition supplies through, we are likely to see escalating malnutrition in areas already at breaking point,” Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP’s representative in South Sudan, said in a joint WFP-UNICEF statement.

The Nile is a crucial transport artery in South Sudan because the impoverished country has few paved roads and a lot of challenging terrain, particularly during the rainy season when