US to Provide South Sudan with $180M in Food Aid

In this Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014 file photo, 7-month-old boy Dhieu Ding Chol, left, and 5-month-old boy Thuch Jong Kuch, right, are held by their mothers as they receive treatment for dehydration, vomiting and diarrhea, likely caused by the lack of any sanitation where they are now living, at a clinic run by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) set up in a school building in the town of Awerial, South Sudan. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

EDGARTOWN, Mass. (AP) — The United States is providing $180 million in emergency aid to address a food crisis in South Sudan.

White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice says the people of South Sudan face the worst food shortage in the world. She blamed the suffering of the South Sudanese on their leaders’ inability to put the people’s interests ahead of their own.

The money for the food aid is coming from USAID, as well as a Department of Agriculture trust.

The White House says the U.S. has already provided South Sudan with more than $456 million in humanitarian aid, but more is needed because of the threat of famine.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.