STORY: For the past three weeks, this American company run by former U.S. soldiers and officials has been airdropping hundreds of tons of maize flour, beans and salt into South Sudan, one of the world's most desperate pockets of hunger.

South Sudan's government says it is funding the campaign, which comes in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's dismantling of USAID and wider aid budget cuts.

Fogbow says it now has five project requests in conflict zones in both Africa and the Middle East.

But many aid sector veterans see the rising demand for its services as part of a shift towards a more politicized aid model and argue such firms sacrifice humanitarian principles like neutrality and credibility.

Here's Fogbow's president, Mick Mulroy.

"We have a lot of experience in conflict zones; the team does, and we try and use those experiences to add on to the humanitarian efforts that are already going around the world."

A U.S.- and Israeli-backed outfit that's distributing food in Gaza has shone the spotlight on the shift to private aid services.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation or GHF has bypassed the U.N., which accuses it of running "militarized" distribution zones.

Scores of Palestinians have died in shootings near the sites.

Fogbow first distributed food last year in Gaza, but it says it has no connection to the GHF.

Its operation in South Sudan is raising similar questions because it is working directly on behalf of a party to an active conflict.

The aid comes in sacks emblazoned with the national flag.

Some people have refused the food because they don't trust the government, whose forces are bombarding parts of Upper Nile.

That's according to two residents, opposition politicians and a U.N. source.

And the opposition SPLM-IO has accused the military in those areas of coercing displaced civilians to return home to collect the food.

Chol Ajongo, the minister of presidential affairs, denied coercion but said the drops into Nasir County were intended to encourage people to return and show it could provide for them.

"So, there are places in the Upper Nile, Upper Nile area, the Jonglei area that the government doesn't have access to. They are making their collections, generating tax, government commissioners are chased away. So, there is a need for us in order for you to claim legitimacy and the representation of the people of South Sudan, you must have presence in all those places." 

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Although U.N.'s World Food Program has plans to distribute over 176,000 U.S. tons of food in South Sudan this year, it said no aid was getting in.

South Sudan's government said it asked Fogbow, rather than WFP, to expedite the rollout and show it was taking responsibility for its citizens.