Children starving in South Sudan camps

(Vatican Radio) A religious sister has described how children are dying from lack of food in war-torn South Sudan where a famine has been declared.

Sister Yudith Pereira Rico from the association “Solidarity with South Sudan” told Susy Hodges that many children in camps for people displaced by the civil war are visibly malnourished and that people are not able to buy food because of sky-high inflation.

Her comments come after a famine was declared there earlier this week, with the UN saying that 4.9 people are in need of urgent food assistance.

“Almost all of the children are skinny,” said Sister Pereira Rico. “Many of them are ill because they are not getting enough food and this is taking place all over the country.

“People are very worried. We have more than 900 per cent of inflation. So people are unable to buy any food in the market. It’s not the rainy season so even the price of the food is higher. People are dying.”

Her eyewitness description of the crisis comes as Pope Francis called during his Wednesday General Audience for urgent humanitarian aid for South Sudan, saying millions risked being “condemned to death”.

Listen to the interview with Sister Yudith Pereira Rico of "Solidarity with South Sudan":