South Sudan faces catastrophic aid shortfall as food stocks plummet

Every week, about three thousand people cross the border from Sudan into South Sudan before the sun rises. They arrive carrying children and plastic bags, their bodies marked by hunger and exhaustion. Many have nothing but the clothes they wear. What waits for them on the other side is supposed to be refuge—but the food that keeps them alive is running out.

More than one million vulnerable people could lose access to food assistance by October unless funding materializes, according to the World Food Programme. The scale of the shortfall is stark: in Malakal, one of the WFP's critical supply hubs in Upper Nile state, food stocks have collapsed from ten thousand metric tonnes a year ago to fewer than three hundred tonnes today. The agency faces an immediate funding gap of eighty-six million dollars, with a six-month shortfall of four hundred sixteen million more.

The pressure comes from two directions at once. The war that erupted in Sudan in April 2023 has driven up prices across the region and made it harder to import goods, according to Matthew Hollingworth, the WFP's assistant executive director, who visited the border region this month. At the same time, more than one point four million refugees and returnees have crossed into South Sudan since the fighting began, straining a country already struggling with its own conflict, displacement, and climate shocks. Hollingworth told reporters that the international community has fewer resources to give than it once did, while the government of South Sudan has created additional obstacles—illegal checkpoints that prevent aid workers from reaching vulnerable people across the country.

In Renk, the border town that has become the main entry point for arrivals from Sudan, transit centres designed for far smaller numbers now hold families waiting for transport to other parts of the country. Some wait for months. Zainab Musa, a mother of six, crossed recently and described conditions as desperate: little food, hard circumstances, hunger. She moved to the transit centre hoping to find help. Nura Mohammed Ahmed, another Sudanese refugee, put the choice facing some arrivals in terms that cut through all policy language: many people have died here from hunger and malnutrition, she said. Some refugees face a choice between returning to a war zone or starving.

The human cost is already visible. Najah al-Tayieb al-Fadhul arrived at a transit centre in December 2023 after her husband was killed by Sudanese armed forces. She has tried to find work with humanitarian organizations in Renk, earning about two dollars and fifty cents a day when she can find it, despite holding a college degree. Her children suffer from hunger and malnutrition. One has a heart disease she cannot afford to treat. She said that even with occasional work, the humanitarian situation continues to worsen.

Peter Maker, a displaced person in Pigi county in Jonglei state, described how insecurity and the arrival of people from other areas have made it impossible to farm or find steady work. Though he is able-bodied and qualified, he cannot travel safely to look for opportunities or work outside. He and others survive by sharing resources, relying on faith, and receiving occasional aid. He warned that further cuts to assistance would be devastating.

The scale of hunger across South Sudan extends far beyond the refugee population. The WFP says seven point eight million people—more than half the country's population—face high levels of acute food shortage. Two point two million children are acutely malnourished. In August, the WFP and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned that more than six hundred fifty thousand refugees and asylum seekers were at risk of losing food assistance entirely. Food and nutrition support for the most vulnerable two hundred forty thousand refugees was expected to run out in September without new funding.

Malakal, which has hosted displaced families for years, now holds nearly forty thousand people across more than six thousand households. Many have been displaced for years. The International Organization for Migration has warned that water, sanitation, and hygiene services in Malakal face collapse because of funding shortfalls. Without drainage pumping and dyke maintenance, the city also faces heightened risk of flooding during the rainy season. Basic services are coming under pressure at the moment when they are needed most.

The crisis points toward a choice that the international community will have to make soon. Without additional resources, the WFP cannot sustain the assistance that keeps more than one million people alive. The people arriving from Sudan's war, and the millions already displaced within South Sudan, are waiting to see whether that choice will be made in time.