WFP, UNHCR concerned about food, water insecurity in border areas between Sudan, South Sudan

The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) "has warned clashes along the border between Sudan and South Sudan threaten to plunge the region into widespread hunger" and "said it is scaling up its humanitarian operation in South Sudan to assist a growing number of refugees and displaced people," VOA News reports. WFP "plans to assist 2.7 million people in South Sudan this year under an emergency operation covering the border region and other areas," the news service writes. WFP spokesperson Elizabeth Byrs "said [the agency] is providing special supplementary, nutritional feeding to about one-half-million young children, pregnant women, and nursing mothers who are suffering from, or are vulnerable to, malnutrition," according to VOA (Schlein, 5/2). UNHCR, the U.N. refugee agency, said in a press release it also is concerned about the rising number of malnourished refugees arriving in South Sudan and the threat of water shortages in several border areas, the South Sudan News Agency notes (5/2).