![Women look at an International Red Cross dropping emergency food supplies in Leer, South Sudan,](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404816711232/ee4c902c-d8f5-460a-b423-a2bff0c31c49-620x413.jpeg)
![Thousands of people wait in the hot sun near the air drop zone in Leer, South Sudan, on 5 July 2014](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404816780976/10f1e19b-027e-4586-ac78-b15898ca74a1-620x413.jpeg)
![Thousands of people wait in the hot sun near the air drop zone in Leer, South Sudan, on 5 July 2014](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404816912922/00e70c96-32f9-4181-be0c-2333009fcb8a-620x413.jpeg)
![An International Red Cross plane drops emergency food supplies near the airdrop zone in Leer, South Sudan, on 5 July 2014](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404816865561/2159ee04-05af-43b5-8bda-3a97e98bd164-620x413.jpeg)
![A porter races into the drop zone after an International Red Cross plane delivered food in Leer, South Sudan, on 5 July 2014](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404816979644/455b4997-6b37-4704-a308-24092d660213-620x413.jpeg)
![An International Red Cross member prepares to organise the food distribution](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817033529/1c51ecf4-549f-44f1-91fc-206d1e371890-620x413.jpeg)
![Red Cross staff and volunteers begin opening the sacks of food](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817303731/8fbf7fb5-1712-41fa-949e-65d7a1113079-620x413.jpeg)
![Families set off for home with sacks of food and seeds](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817089905/6bab3de4-f447-404e-8c43-b7dbc9e0d0b2-620x413.jpeg)
![Children run to the drop zone to gather any food or seeds spilled during the airdrop](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817135768/d8c642d0-d9df-4d55-b38e-74029204530f-620x414.jpeg)
![Martha Nyarueni, right, and her family return to their home outside the town of Leer with sacks of aid](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817221974/d0e80f0a-3393-489f-a047-491279a709c7-620x413.jpeg)
![Martha Nyarueni and her family stand outside their home outside the town of Leer](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817384640/3a12c837-844c-4585-8002-0c373ae75213-620x413.jpeg)
![A sick woman on a stretcher waits for medical attention outside the hospital in the town of Leer](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817796330/cb5ac853-6f5d-42a3-80cd-f9f607b85fc6-620x413.jpeg)
![Families with malnourished children wait to receive treatment at the hospital in Leer](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817608024/1b55b4c7-3602-428f-9bf9-8b9530fa1a03-620x413.jpeg)
![A mother tends to her malnourished child in the hospital in Leer](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404817679416/a1062043-9b3f-49ed-ba22-ef1eb1f7b651-620x413.jpeg)
![Women and their children wait to receive treatment on the sandy floor at the hospital in Leer](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/untcsid/20140912135147im_/http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/7/8/1404824405533/98f3e172-3481-431d-9fa4-a9843cfb8d63-620x372.jpeg)
More than 40 tons of emergency food supplies and seed – enough to feed 1,100 families – have been delivered to Leer, northern South Sudan, by the International Committee of the Red Cross. These airdrops, the first by the ICRC for nearly two decades, are an effort to reach hundreds of thousands of people afflicted by conflict, disease and impending famine in the world's youngest country, which celebrates its third independence on Wednesday. Photographs by Nichole Sobecki for AFP/Getty
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