South Sudan Starves as Aid Blocked, Money Spent on Fighting

Elizabeth Athiel holds her 8-month-old malnourished daughter Anger, at a UNICEF feeding center in Aweil, South Sudan, where she faced the anguished decision of getting urgent medical attention for Anger at a medical clinic a half-day's walk away, or making sure her other five children could eat at the center where she was, on Sept. 16, 2016. AP Photo/Justin Lynch

AWEIL, South Sudan—The mother faced an anguished decision: choosing which of her children to save.

With hunger gripping this remote region of South Sudan, Elizabeth Athiel could either get urgent medical attention for her 8-month-old daughter, Anger, or make sure her other five children could eat.

The little girl was shockingly thin, but the medical clinic was a half-day’s walk away, and she would have to wait there for days until recovery. “I can’t leave the others alone here,” Athiel said, holding Anger in her arms. It is not known what later happened to the child.

Her family is another victim of South Sudan’s civil war — in a part of the country that hasn’t even seen fighting.

A young girl holds a child at a UNICEF clinic for severely malnourished children in Aweil, South Sudan, on Sept. 16, 2016. AP Photo/Justin Lynch