This shocking video shows a fresh swarm of locusts landing in South Sudan, which is already suffering from dire food shortages after months of flooding and years of civil war.

The bugs – said to number a “billion” – are now ravaging crops in Magwi after crossing the border from Uganda.

In the clip, an endless stream of locusts is seen flying over the grasslands while someone looks on in horror.

The ominous crackling of thousands of wings is heard in the background.

Instead of landing, the bugs pass onwards to decimate crops elsewhere and someone is heard laughing in what could be relief as the last of the critters fly out of sight.

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The video was shared on twitter by @dabroscomputer1 who wrote: “Another billion locust freshly landed in Magwi today.

“After 15 minutes of landing u can pity the tree they landed. This is serious.”

Experts have said the colour of the locusts means they will soon be laying eggs in what is feared will become a chain reaction of locust invasions.

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Locust plague

Meshack Malo, South Sudan's representative for the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said: "These are deep yellow, which means that they will be here mostly looking at areas in which they will lay eggs.”

The plague of locusts in east Africa is the worst in many decades according to the UN, who said that the infestation in Kenya is the worst in 70 years, while Somalia and Ethiopia are experiencing their worst outbreaks in 25 years.

It warned that we are “running out of time” to stop the flood of insects from starving nations to death.

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Mark Lowcock, the UN’s top humanitarian official, told ambassadors: “In this region where there is so much suffering and so much vulnerability and fragility, we simply cannot afford another major shock.

“And that’s why we need to act quickly. We do have a chance to nip this problem in the bud, but that’s not what we’re doing at the moment. We’re running out of time.”

A swarm of locusts can travel up to 150 km (93 miles) in a single day and in the space of 24 hours can destroy enough food to feed 34 million people, the UN said.

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