13 January 2014 - The World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a new emergency operation to expand assistance to people affected by crisis in South Sudan, according to a statement the agency issued today.

The $57.8 million, three-month operation aims to provide emergency food assistance for up to 400,000 internally displaced people, including specialized nutritional support for new mothers and young children who are most at risk from a disrupted food supply.

“WFP began providing food for displaced people within days of the outbreak of fighting, and we have already assisted at least 100,000 people in South Sudan since the conflict erupted in mid-December,” said WFP East and Central Africa Regional Director Valerie Guarnieri, who was in Juba this week.

“But … we still face difficulties accessing some areas, and the looting of food and other assets from a number of our compounds and warehouses around the country, most recently in Bentiu on Thursday, greatly complicates our relief efforts,” she added.

The crisis has forced at least 200,000 people to flee for safety, during what in many parts of the country should be harvest season, the statement said. The WFP fears that the impact on food security will be significant for some time, even if political negotiations are successful.

Food insecurity was a major challenge for South Sudan even before the conflict, and unrest has disrupted commercial supplies to local markets in much of the country.

With fighting continuing, humanitarian agencies are having trouble reaching many areas of South Sudan. WFP food stocks pre-positioned at nearly 100 sites around the country help but these same stocks are also at risk. So far, WFP estimates that 10 percent of its food in the country has been looted – enough to feed some 180,000 people for a month.

Since about 60 per cent of South Sudan is inaccessible by road during the rainy season, WFP would now normally be beginning to pre-position food in remote locations before rains start in April or May. Conflict makes that difficult or impossible in some places, and some communities in need of humanitarian assistance will likely only be reachable by air.

In addition to support for conflict-affected people inside South Sudan, WFP is also assisting tens of thousands of refugees who have fled across the country’s borders into neighbouring countries, including Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya.

“We have mobilized quickly to provide immediate relief to people seeking safety across South Sudan’s borders,” said Ms. Guarnieri. “But all of our refugee assistance programmes in the region were already facing severe funding shortfalls before this crisis, and a new influx of refugees will strain their resources even further.”