UN agency pledges $578m in food aid to South Sudan

 The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said Monday it is stepping up efforts to provide emergency food aid to conflict-stricken South Sudan.According to dpa, the Rome-based organization pledged 57.8 million dollars to fund a three-month operation aimed at providing food aid to as many as 400,000 people displaced within South Sudan.Despite the agency's efforts - which have helped at least 100,000 South Sudanese people thus far - food aid is being hampered bylooting, said Valerie Guarnieri, WFP's East and Central Africa regional director."So far WFP estimates that 10 per cent of its food in the country has been looted - enough to feed some 180,000 people for a month," shesaid.Separately, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched a 61-million-dollar fundraising appeal to provide longer-termagricultural aid to South Sudan.