Sudan faces famine

Sudan is expriencing the driest season in living memory

ROME, Italy -- Sudan is on the verge of a huge food crisis, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

Three million people are at risk in Africa's largest country, with food expected to run out by mid-April, it says. This will coincide with the beginning of summer.

"Parts of the country are experiencing the driest season in living memory, affecting 600,000 people.

" At the same time, 2.4 million people continue to urgently need assistance due to the ongoing civil war," said WFP representative Masood Hyder. The war is now in its 18th year.

Rebels from Sudan's mainly Christian and animist south have been fighting for greater autonomy from the mainly Muslim north since 1983 in a conflict that has cost some two million lives, mainly civilians.

Fearing large-scale famine, the WFP said it was preparing to appeal to the international community for over $100 million in assistance.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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United Nations World Food Programme
Sudan Ministry of External Relations
U.S. State Department
  • U.S. Dept. of State, 1999 Human Rights Report on Sudan
  • South Sudan Special Project
Amnesty International, 2000 Report on Sudan
Library of Congress, Country Study on Sudan
Coalition Against Slavery in Mauritania and Sudan
South Sudanese Friends International

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