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South Sudan

Cash crunch drives South Sudan's troops and families to the edge

After three years of civil conflict and with rampant inflation, now a third of the population needs food aid

  • South Sudan plunged into civil conflict in December 2013

  • Once privileged military families now going hungry

  • Inflation wipes out value of wages, despite increases

  • "Men in uniform" pillage aid stores as famine looms

By Katharine Houreld

JUBA, Feb 14 - Three years into a civil war and with inflation above 800 percent, South Sudan's government is struggling to pay its troops. When delayed wages finally arrive, the cash is so devalued it barely buys food for a week.

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