Food Security Body Warns of Famine in South Sudan

South Sudan faces the "concrete risk" of famine by the end of 2015 and 30,000 people are already classified as being in a food security catastrophe, a statement from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said on Thursday.

The IPC, whose members include the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Programme, said famine had not been officially declared because it was hard to get data from conflict zones.

"There is a great concern that famine may exist in the coming months but it may not be possible to validate it at that time due to lack of evidence as the result of limited access to the affected areas and populations," it said.