In South Sudan a fragile peace allows food deliveries

The army and its allied militias raped and murdered civilians and burned villages in that campaign, according to the U.N. Now the government controls most towns in the area and the rebels operate from the countryside.

The rebels attacked Koch town twice this month, the government's deputy county commissioner William Malual told AP, speaking with a pickup truck full of young soldiers bristling with weapons behind him.

Senior military commanders on both sides have met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to plan security arrangements, though they failed to resolve all differences.

UNICEF's South Sudan representative Jonathan Veitch said the food security situation in the two areas appeared better than expected with low rates of child malnutrition despite earlier famine fears, but he said there were worrisome outbreaks of watery diarrhea, measles, and malaria.