SOUTH SUDAN SAND

JUBA : Seventy percent of South Sudan's students/children are out of school and the young country risks losing a generation-

That would make it harder to rebuild after conflict ends, a United Nations official said.

South Sudan, which split off from its northern neighbor Sudan in 2011, has been gripped by a four-year civil war sparked by political rivalry between incumbent leader Salva Kiir and his former deputy Rick Machar.

In an interview with Reuters on Friday, Henrietta H. Fore, UNICEF's executive director, made the warning after visiting some of the areas most devastated by the war.

''70  percent of the children out of school, that is the highest in the world. There is too much violence,'' she said

''If we don't help..............we are going to lose this generation and that would be tragic for the South Sudan because a country cannot build itself without this next generation of young people.'' 

- Agencies.