A Loreto nun working as a school principal in war-torn South Sudan is to be the recipient of the tenth international humanitarian award in honour of the Killarney priest, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty.

Fiona McLysaght is on the frontline in South Sudan providing people there with shelter, food, water and healthcare as famine and conflict wreak havoc

South Sudan no longer has areas in famine but almost two million people are on the brink of starvation, according to reports by the government and the United Nations.

South Sudan's government said 15 young children have died in a botched measles vaccination campaign which saw people as young as 12 years old administering the vaccines.

South Sudanese soldiers accused of a horrific attack on foreign aid workers during the country's civil war are facing trial almost a year later, with the possibility of a death sentence.

The violence in South Sudan is now genocide that is being perpetrated along tribal lines, International Development Secretary Priti Patel has said.

Monitors of South Sudan's troubled peace agreement say government troops burned thousands of civilians' homes last year amid the country's three-year civil war.

The prevalence of sexual violence has reached "epic proportions" in South Sudan during its civil war, the UN Commission on Human Rights said.

This weekend, as Kilkenny and Tipperary enthralled; as our rugby team fell short again; as TV panellists at Crufts discussed joint replacement for dogs, the UN warned the world faces the largest humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.

The United Nations humanitarian chief has warned the world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945 with more than 20 million people in four countries facing starvation and famine.

"People have been displaced, brutalised and raped. They have been attacked when they sought out assistance. This must stop, and it must stop now."

Famine has been declared in two counties of South Sudan, according to an announcement by the county's government and three UN agencies.

Sudan is hosting South Sudan's former rebel leader and vice president, whose whereabouts had been unknown after he fled his country into neighbouring Congo last week.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs says his Department is very concerned about the deteriorating security situation in South Sudan.

Renewed gunfights have broken out across South Sudan's capital Juba between forces loyal to the president and those of the vice-president, causing widespread casualties and raising fears that the country is returning to civil war.

The United Nations has described South Sudan as one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world.

A Russian-built cargo plane with passengers on board crashed after taking off from the airport in South Sudan’s capital Juba, killing dozens of people, witnesses said.

A cargo plane that was reportedly overloaded has crashed along the banks of the River Nile after taking off from the South Sudan capital, killing at least 25 people, witnesses and officials said.

All 20 United Nations peacekeepers held by rebels in South Sudan have been released, the UN has confirmed.

Rebels in South Sudan have seized UN river barges they suspect were transporting weapons for government troops, and are holding 16 peacekeepers.

Mass graves have been discovered in South Sudan with evidence of horrific crimes against civilians including forced cannibalism, according to the African Union.

The death toll from a fuel tanker explosion in South Sudan has reached 183, officials said.

Eighty-five people have been killed in a fuel tanker explosion in rural South Sudan, according to officials in the country.

South Sudan’s president is expected to sign a peace deal today to end a 20-month-old conflict but will list his reservations in an annex to the pact, his foreign minister said.

Leaders for warring sides in South Sudan’s month-long internal conflict have said they are close to signing a cease-fire.

Two warring factions from South Sudan are holding more advanced peace talks for the first time since conflict began in the country on December 15.

An African official who is working to organise peace talks between warring parties in South Sudan said that direct talks between the sides have been delayed.

Rebel forces in South Sudan must accept that “taking power by force cannot work”, the country’s foreign minister said as the two sides in a bloody conflict prepared for peace talks.

Fresh fighting has erupted in Bor, the contested capital of South Sudan’s Jonglei state, as rebels move to retake control from government troops.