Donors pledge over $600 million for South Sudan

OSLO - Agence France-Presse

U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos addresses a donor conference for South Sudan, in Oslo May 20, 2014. REUTERS Photo

International donors pledged more than $600 million dollars in aid to South Sudan Tuesday at a conference in Oslo aimed at averting a famine threatening millions of lives.        

"This figure represents just about a doubling of the available funds for the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan," said Norwegian Foreign Minister Boerge Brende at the close of the conference.        

The sum is in addition to the $536 million already been pledged, but the total remains far short of the $1.8 billion the United Nations says the country needs.