Published On 4/20/2026
Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, warned that South Sudan stands at a “dangerous crossroads” in light of the growing specter of famine, calling on the UN Security Council to take urgent action to avoid what he described as a “collapse” threatening the country.
In a briefing he presented to the Security Council, Fletcher said that the international community must “prevent South Sudan from sliding into comprehensive famine and general collapse,” noting that “the grip of hunger is tightening on all of South Sudan.”
The UN official stated that the dry season extending until the end of next July threatens the deterioration of segments of the population in the country’s ten states to emergency levels of food insecurity, adding that more than 7.5 million people will need food aid during the current year.
These warnings came after a field tour Fletcher spent in South Sudan that lasted a full week, during which he expressed his fear that his next briefing before the Security Council would include an official declaration of the outbreak of famine.
He pointed out that the areas surrounding the city of Akobo in Jonglei State witnessed “the looting of humanitarian complexes and the destruction of feeding centres,” while there are more than 140,000 people in the region in “urgent need of assistance.” Fletcher warned that the floods expected to continue will further complicate the scene by isolating entire communities and undermining their livelihoods “once again.”
Fletcher urged the Security Council to push for unhindered humanitarian access, increase flexible funding, and demand that all parties fully respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians and infrastructure.
Civilians pay the price
In turn, Anita Kiki Gbeho, head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), told the Security Council that “civilians still bear the brunt” as a result of the escalation of confrontations between the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces and the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Army, especially in Jonglei State.
Fighting escalated in the country late last year, about seven years after the conclusion of the peace agreement that put an end to five years of civil war in 2018. In December, a coalition of opposition forces seized government sites in Jonglei state, which required a military operation in late January that forced more than 280,000 civilians to flee the region.
While the Security Council is considering extending the mandate of UNMISS, which expires on April 30, Gbeho acknowledged that “the scale and urgency of field needs are not yet matched by the required level of sustained commitment and investment that the joint effort to put the country on a sustainable peace path requires.”
