The United Nations says it has received a worth of $151 million in pledges from its member states for peace-building in countries with conflict, of which South Sudan is part.

It says the pledges were made in the sidelines of its General Assembly going on in New York.

The UN says the pledges will cover 2017 to 2019, and will be used for sustaining peace and preventing violent conflict in more than 20 countries.

It says the pledging conference, held yesterday, was seeking $300 million but what was so far received is short of $100 million per year.

In a statement, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon says the $300 million will correct the imbalance between what the world spends on warfare and crisis response and what it devotes to conflict prevention and peace-building.

The event was co-hosted by governments of Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea, Somalia, and Sri Lanka.

Sweden and the United Kingdom were also co-hosts of the event.