South Sudan’s food lifeline shrinks as Malakal stocks fall below 300 tonnes

At a key food aid hub in South Sudan, stocks that stood at 10,000 metric tonnes a year ago have dwindled to less than 300 tonnes. The World Food Programme’s warehouse supplies in Malakal are shrinking while about 3,000 refugees and returnees cross from Sudan every week, Al Jazeera reports. Many reach the border hungry and without money, only to find that the assistance awaiting them is running short.

The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that more than one million vulnerable people could lose essential food and nutrition support by October unless it secures more resources. It reports an immediate funding gap of $86 million and a $416 million shortfall over the next six months. Those shortages threaten help for refugees, people displaced within South Sudan and the communities hosting them.

War raises the cost of survival

The pressure extends beyond aid budgets. Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s assistant executive director, told Al Jazeera that Sudan’s war had made importing goods more difficult, pushing prices higher in northern South Sudan. He visited Renk, Malakal and Pigi county this month, seeing communities facing conflict, displacement and climate shocks. Around Renk, drought affects some areas while others remain troubled by flooding.

Hollingworth said the international community had fewer resources to offer just as South Sudan faced mounting needs.

Moving the food that is available is another challenge. Hollingworth called on South Sudan’s government to address illegal checkpoints that obstruct aid deliveries. In Pigi, displaced resident Peter Maker described a similar barrier to earning a living: insecurity prevents people from reaching farmland or travelling for work. He told Al Jazeera that, despite being able to work, he remained heavily dependent on United Nations assistance.

More than 1.4 million refugees and returnees have entered South Sudan since fighting began in Sudan in April 2023, according to WFP. Renk, near the border, is a major arrival point. Its transit centres were not built for the numbers now reaching them. Families await transport to Malakal or other destinations, and some stay for months, extending their dependence on already stretched services.

Smaller rations, fewer ways to earn

Najah al-Tayieb al-Fadhul, a Sudanese refugee and mother of four, told Al Jazeera she sometimes earned about $2.50 a day working in the market. She has a college degree but has struggled to secure stable work. Food support, she said, amounted to small rations particularly for children, while hunger left many adults without the energy to work. She also described being unable to afford treatment for her child’s heart disease.

WFP has already reduced rations and cut support as funding has declined. In August, it and the UN refugee agency warned that more than 650,000 refugees and asylum seekers risked losing food assistance. They said support for the most vulnerable 240,000 refugees was expected to run out in September without fresh funding. Across South Sudan, WFP says 7.8 million people face severe food shortages and 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished.

Other essential services are under pressure too. The International Organization for Migration warns that funding shortages threaten water, sanitation and hygiene services in Bentiu and Malakal. Without drainage pumping and maintenance of flood barriers, Malakal also faces greater rainy-season flood risks. The next test is whether agencies can secure funding and reach people despite access obstacles—before dwindling supplies force further cuts as new arrivals continue.