A year after South Sudan became the first country in six years to experience famine, due to a drawn out civil war, its National Bureau of Statistics warned that 40 percent more people were going hungry this year, even before the lean season sets in. In 2017 some 100,000 people were affected by a famine -- meaning people started dying due to lack of food. "Improved access and a massive humanitarian response succeeded in containing and averting famine later last year. Four years of civil war have devastated agriculture, while prices have soared and rains have also been unreliable. South Sudan, the world's youngest nation, was engulfed by civil war in 2013 after President Salva Kiir accused his rival and former deputy Riek Machar of plotting a coup against him.

Source: Standard Digital February 27, 2018 06:00 UTC