Haven Cruz-Hubbard, the Mission Director of the US Agency for International Development - CREDIT | Lou Nelson/Eye Radio | Nov. 22, 2021

The United States government has announced over 117 million dollars in humanitarian assistance to South Sudan.

In a press release on Thursday, Washington said the funding will be channeled to the UN’s World Food Program to provide food and nutritional assistance to needy populations.

The U.S. International Development Agency, USAID, said the finance targets vulnerable people affected by violence, food insecurity, the COVID-19 pandemic, and years of widespread flooding.

“With these funds, the U.S. government is supporting the UN World Food Program to provide food and nutrition assistance to more than one million crisis-affected people, including refugees and individuals facing malnutrition, across South Sudan,” said the statement.

The contribution is expected to boost WFP’s capacity to provide humanitarian assistance at a time when it has been forced to suspend food assistance to millions due to insufficient funding.

Last month, WFP announced it is forced to cut food aid in the country, after exhausting all efforts including halving food rations to refugees and IDPs.

The decision stemmed from the worsening global economic crisis amid the war in Ukraine, which leaves humanitarian agencies in Africa to work with funding shortfalls.

WFP said at the time, it urgently needs $426m to cover humanitarian needs for the next six months.

The agency said over 6 million people, a third of the country’s population would be affected and 1.7 million at risk of starvation.

Meanwhile, the USAID funding was made available through a coordinated effort of the Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The American agencies are also looking to provide an additional $670 million in food assistance to respond to historic levels of acute food insecurity around the world.

On Thursday, the World Food Program received about 1.3 million US dollars from the French government.