Famine will break out in war-torn South Sudan within weeks unless massive funding for food aid is provided, aid agencies warn.
"If the conflict in South Sudan continues, and more aid cannot be delivered, then by August it is likely that some localised areas of South Sudan will slip into famine," warned Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a coalition of 13 major aid agencies, on Thursday.
Thousands have been killed in the conflict in the world's youngest country, while more than 1.5 million have been forced to flee since the war broke out in mid-December. Peace talks are stalled.
The United Nations has about 40 per cent of the money it needs, and a shortfall of more than $US1 billion dollars ($A1.08 billion).
"There is a very real risk of famine in some areas," DEC chief Saleh Saeed said.
Famine implies that at least 20 per cent of households face extreme food shortages, there is acute malnutrition in more than 30 per cent of people, and two deaths per 10,000 people every day, according to the UN definition.
The DEC coalition, which includes agencies such as Oxfam, Tearfund and Save the Children "have less than half the money they need to help prevent the growing food crisis in South Sudan turning into a catastrophe", Saeed said.
Fighting between forces of President Salva Kiir and troops loyal to rebel chief Riek Machar has been marked by widespread atrocities.
Kiir and Machar committed themselves in June to a third ceasefire deal, and agreed to forge a transitional government within 60 days, but fighting continues.
"Although humanitarian agencies are making every effort to increase aid deliveries, access remains limited by fighting and the start of the rainy season, which has turned many unpaved roads into rivers of mud," the aid agencies said.
On Monday, Doctors Without Borders said the situation was the worst it had seen in years, even during the two decades of war that paved the way for South Sudan's independence three years ago.
More than 100,000 civilians are crammed inside squalid camps inside UN bases across the country, with numbers continuing to rise.
