Community volunteers, staff working in health centres and schools have been forcibly recruited by armed groups in Guit County, causing facilities to close, a UN agency said.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its update on Monday that at least 14 community volunteers and health workers had reportedly been forcibly recruited by armed groups in Guit County, in the country's north as of 6 June.

"The health facility in Nimni, as well as at least two schools in the area, have been forced to close due to forced recruitment of personnel essential to their operations," OCHA said.

Negotiations for the workers' release are ongoing, it said. The UN agency pointed out looting of humanitarian supplies has also been reported with 19 incidents so far this year.

The organization noted that more than 250 aid workers have been relocated because of fighting this year, almost double the number during the same period in 2016.

In February, South Sudan government and three UN agencies declared famine in parts of the country, saying the calamity is the result of prolonged civil war and an entrenched economic crisis that has devastated the world’s youngest nation.

Humanitarian agencies warned that more than half the country’s population will need food assistance this year.