by Denis Elamu
JUBA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Aid agencies on Wednesday launched the 2018 humanitarian appeal, seeking 1.72 billion U.S. dollars in assistance to 6 million people in South Sudan affected by conflict, displacement, hunger and a deteriorating economy.
Alain Noudehou, the UN humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan, said the money is required to meet the growing need for humanitarian assistance with displacement, food insecurity, malnutrition, violence and economic decline taking a toll on the health, safety and livelihoods of people in need.
"Today, we are calling for 1.72 billion dollars to continue providing life-saving assistance and protection for 6 million people most in need in South Sudan," Noudehou told a news conference in Juba.
The South Sudan Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) said an earlier-than-normal start of the lean season will result in an estimated 5.1 million people (48 percent of the total population) being classified as severely food insecure in January-March 2018.
"With our collective and coordinated efforts, we will be able to effectively provide much needed assistance to the people in need. Children will remain in school. Many more will survive diseases. Livelihoods and hope will be restored. There is so much at stake," Noudehou said.
The IPC also said approximately half of all South Sudanese children under five experience acute malnutrition.
Noudehou said 7 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection in the coming year.
Meanwhile, South Sudan Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Hussein Mar said the humanitarian situation could worsen in 2018 with the increasingly deadly inter-communal conflicts.
South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 after political dispute between President Kiir and his former deputy turned rebel chief Riek Machar led to split within the military, leaving soldiers to fight alongside ethnic lines.
A 2015 peace agreement to end the conflict was weakened after the outbreak of renewed fighting in July 2016.
