Very recently, in which of the following countries have lakhs of people either suffered from severe famine/acute malnutrition or died due to starvation caused by war/ethnic conflicts?

1. A

   Angola and Zambia

   (a) Angola and Zambia. These southern African states were not the 2017 war-famine pair in the news. This letter is not the key.

2. B

   Morocco and Tunisia

   (b) Morocco and Tunisia. North African states, not the starvation theatres of that period. This is not the key.

3. C

   Venezuela and Colombia

   (c) Venezuela and Colombia. Venezuela had a humanitarian and economic crisis, but the stem’s war/ethnic-conflict famine pairing in 2017–18 Prelims context is Yemen and South Sudan. This is not the key.

4. D

   Yemen and South Sudan

   (d) Yemen and South Sudan. (d) Official key: UN agencies warned of famine and mass starvation in Yemen (war) and South Sudan (civil war), with related alerts for north-east Nigeria and Somalia. That pair is the stored key.

Summary. Official key is (d) Yemen and South Sudan. Conflict, siege and displacement produced famine-level hunger there around 2017. Angola–Zambia, Morocco–Tunisia and Venezuela–Colombia are different crises. Honour the stored letter (d).