South Sudan is nearing another famine, aid officials warned on Monday, after five years of devastating fighting and failed ceasefires in the world’s youngest nation. Almost two-thirds of the population will need food aid this year to stave off starvation and malnutrition as aid groups prepare for the “toughest year on record”, members of a working group including South Sudanese and UN officials said. According to a report published Monday by the United Nations and South Sudans government, more than six million people, up about 40 percent from a year ago, are at threat without aid. It says 150,000 people in 11 counties in Jonglei, Upper Nile, Unity and Western Bahr el Ghazal states could slip into famine this year. “The situation is extremely fragile, and we are close to seeing another famine. The projections are stark. If we ignore them, we’ll be faced with a growing tragedy,” said Serge Tissot, from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in South Sudan. A total of 5.3 million people, 48 percent of the population, are already in “crisis” or “emergency” - stages three and four on a five-point scale, according to a survey published by the working group. The oil-rich east African nation has been torn apart by an ethnically charged civil war since late 2013, when troops loyal to President Salva Kiir and then-Vice President Riek Machar clashed. Since then, more than 4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, creating Africa’s largest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The UN declared last year a famine in two districts where 100,000 people faced starvation. After a rapid aid response, further crisis was averted and the famine declaration was lifted in June. One in three people in South Sudan have been forced from their homes by the civil war, resulting in the worst production of the countrys staple grains since the conflict began in late 2013, the FAO said. “We are expecting to face the toughest year on record,” UN Humanitarian Coordinator Alain Noudehou told a press conference in the South Sudanese capital Juba. Records for South Sudan began when it declared independence from Sudan in July, 2011. While supportive of the aid response, South Sudans government worries that it is crippling the nation. "If a country relies on aid itll develop a dependency syndrome," said Hussein Mar Nyot, minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management. People will forget their skills the longer they arent able to cultivate the land, he said. The UN humanitarian response plan for South Sudan has received less than 4 percent of its funding for 2018, with a gap of more than $1.7 billion. Last year Kiir ordered unrestricted access for aid groups, but aid workers say the situation hasnt changed and the current dry season could make it worse.