Nearly 7 million people from South Sudan need emergency aid such as food, water and basic medicines due to a protracted civil war in the country, the United Nations said on Thursday, appealing to international donors for $3.2 billion.
The violence in the world's youngest nation is in its fifth year, and has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people. One in 3 South Sudanese have fled their homes — almost 90 percent of them are women and children.
"The price of $3.2 billion seems very high. But what the world spends on war is about $15 trillion ... $3.2 billion is a big figure, but when you compare it with what is spent on what caused this crisis, it is not too much," Filippo Grandi, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a press conference.