Renewed fighting since March 2025 and chronic seasonal flooding have driven Luakpiny/Nasir County in South Sudan's Upper Nile State into one of the country's most severe humanitarian emergencies. The latest food security analysis, released in April 2026, warns that displaced families and host communities face catastrophic hunger and a credible risk of famine without urgent intervention.
A River County Caught Between War and Water
Luakpiny/Nasir County sits along the Sobat River, where the Pibor and Baro rivers converge near its southern border, bordering Ethiopia to the southeast and neighboring South Sudanese counties to the east and west. With little road infrastructure, these waterways normally serve as lifelines for trade, movement and aid delivery. But that same river system, prone to seasonal flooding, now compounds a crisis sparked by renewed violence: in March 2025, an attack by the White Army on a government military position triggered wider military operations and escalating tensions between government-aligned forces and opposition groups, displacing residents and cutting off humanitarian access.
Collapsing Livelihoods and Rising Health Risks
Humanitarian organizations report that most households in the county have lost access to farmland and livestock, while markets and income-generating activities have been severely disrupted. Displaced populations crowding into highland areas face deteriorating access to clean water, shelter and health care, conditions that aid groups say are fueling suspected outbreaks of acute watery diarrhea, malaria and respiratory infections linked to contaminated floodwater and poor sanitation. Relief International and other partners report that many health facilities in low-lying areas are non-functional, with mobile clinics operating only intermittently due to insecurity and submerged infrastructure.
What the Food Security Data Shows
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis covering April through July, Luakpiny/Nasir has been classified in Acute Food Insecurity Phase 4, or Emergency, while acute malnutrition, based largely on mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) screening, has reached Phase 5, described as Extremely Critical. The same analysis identifies population groups already in Catastrophe-level food insecurity and flags a plausible worst-case scenario in which famine conditions could emerge in parts of the county. These are formal technical classifications used by humanitarian agencies to gauge severity; they indicate serious risk rather than a confirmed famine declaration.
Next Steps for Humanitarian Response
Aid partners are planning a targeted assessment in Kuetreng-ke Payam, collecting data in the Torechkey, Thuokwath and Bhordeng settlements where displaced people and host communities currently live side by side. Organizers say the findings are intended to inform discussions within South Sudan's Needs Analysis Working Group, the Inter-Cluster Coordination Group and the IPC process itself, shaping decisions on where to direct limited emergency resources. Officials and aid workers caution that any improvement depends on sustained access, funding and a reduction in conflict-related disruptions, factors that remain uncertain given the area's continued exposure to both insecurity and flooding.