December 29, 2014-Reuters reports that the United Nations has begun delivering food aid to South Sudan using the Nile River from Sudan for the first time since independence. The UN is warning that the country could be facing a “hunger catastrophe.”

According to the World Food Program’s Acting Country Director, “There threat of a “hunger catastrophe” remains very real in early 2015 as the dry season takes hold. This will make an enormous difference in our efforts to bring food assistance to people in critical need.”

Since South Sudan declared independence three years ago, the Border between Sudan and South Sudan has remained heavily militarized, cutting off commercial and humanitarian traffic along the Nile.

WFP is using trucks and river barges to deliver an initial 4,650 tons of food to South Sudanese affected by the conflict.