A woman roasting sorghum in Greater Pibor (Photo/VOA).

At least 12 people have starved to death in Likwangole of Greater Pibor Administrative Area in July, an official said, amid an ongoing hunger situation that is ravaging the isolated region.

Pibor Information Minister said hunger has affected the entire administrative territory where supply routes from Juba, Eastern Equatoria and neighboring Ethiopia are hardly accessible.

Oleyo Akuer said the deaths were recorded in a period of less than two weeks starting from early this month.

Mr. Akuer said the government is yet to receive accurate data on the situation in Boma and Pochalla, which faces a similar level of humanitarian catastrophe.

“The information we recently about the number which has been brought from Likwangole is that there are twelve people who died death because of hunger. But we didn’t receive accurate number from the Jebal Boma and Pocholla,” he said in an interview with Eye Radio.

The information minister confirmed the limited presence of humanitarian organizations in Likwangole delivering food items which he said is not enough for the population.

Around 80 percent of South Sudan’s 13 million population are estimated to be living on less than one US dollar a day, according to the UN population agency UNFPA.

The 2024 Global Population Review report also indicates that South Sudan has the highest poverty rate – with 82.3%, followed by Equatorial Guinea with 76.8% and Madagascar with 70.7%.

In June, the GPAA government said an unspecified number of people also starved to death in Pochalla and Jebel Boma areas after months of hunger triggered by drought.

In parts of neighboring Eastern Equatoria, the Commissioner of Kapoeta East warned of famine in the area following months of dry spell that withered crops and dashed hope of harvest for the second year.

Also, a World Bank Food Security Update released last month showed South Sudan having topped the list of countries worst hit by food inflation in the world making it the only nation with the most expensive food prices.

The report said in South Sudan, food prices stand at an inflation rate of 164 per cent – while Zimbabwe comes second with 48 per cent followed by Liberia at (16%), Viet Nam (11%), and Haiti is fifth (at 11%).

Further, the World Food Program (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) also projected South Sudan, Palestine, Sudan, and Mali as having the highest level of food insecurity among 18 global hotspots, and will suffer famine from June to October 2024.

According to WFP and FAO, the number of South Sudanese facing starvation and death is projected to almost double between April and July 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.