The Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator calls for urgent funding and access to people in need of aid, especially in famine-hit areas.
Stephen O’Brien observes that the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan is rapidly escalating and hunger and malnutrition have reached new disturbing levels.
Fighting, insecurity and lack of access to aid have left some thousands of people facing starvation and a further one million are on the point of famine, he says.
More than 3.4 million people have been displaced since the conflict began in December 2013, including 1.9 million internally displaced, the Coordinator adds.
By July 2017, the humanitarian community estimates that 5.5 million will be severely food insecure, he adds.
O’Brien calls for an end to the fighting for calm to prevail to consistently reach people in dire need and prevent further catastrophe.
He also calls for an end to brutality, attacks and rape.