Spreading violence in Sudan's Darfur region cut off almost half a
million people from access to food aid last month, 180 000 more
than in June, the head of the United Nations World Food Program
said.
Fighting and attacks on food convoys halted food supplies to almost 350 000 in North Darfur and to another 120 000 people in the southern and western parts of the region, which is the size of France, WFP's representative in Sudan, Kenro Oshidari, told reporters today in Khartoum, the capital.
“This number keeps on increasing and this is my key worry,'' he said. “We all know it's a combination of threats. Rebel faction fighting and banditry has increased a lot.''
Eleven aid workers have been killed since the government and one rebel faction signed a peace agreement on May 5 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, Oshidari said. The WFP is trying to feed more than 3-million people in Darfur, almost 2,5-million of whom live in refugee camps.
Armed clashes in Sudan's Darfur region doubled in the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2005, with the number of people killed rising 376%, the United Nations said on August 9.
In recent weeks, fighting has escalated in northern Darfur between a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, led by Minni Minnawi, who signed the peace accord with the government, and other insurgent groups that oppose the agreement.
“While the news cameras are focused on the conflict in Lebanon, the situation in Sudan has quietly grown more dangerous and desperate than ever,'' Oshidari said.
The Darfur conflict started in February 2003 when rebel groups, demanding a greater share of wealth and political power, attacked government forces. The authorities in Khartoum responded by organizing militias known as the Janjaweed in a violent campaign to wipe out the insurgents.
“It would be a disaster for the people of Darfur if the security deteriorated to the point where we were unable to deliver more widely,'' Oshidari said.
WFP needs $350-million to pay for food in the first three months of next year for the 6-million people throughout southern, central, eastern and western Sudan that depend on aid, he said.
Fighting and attacks on food convoys halted food supplies to almost 350 000 in North Darfur and to another 120 000 people in the southern and western parts of the region, which is the size of France, WFP's representative in Sudan, Kenro Oshidari, told reporters today in Khartoum, the capital.
“This number keeps on increasing and this is my key worry,'' he said. “We all know it's a combination of threats. Rebel faction fighting and banditry has increased a lot.''
Eleven aid workers have been killed since the government and one rebel faction signed a peace agreement on May 5 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, Oshidari said. The WFP is trying to feed more than 3-million people in Darfur, almost 2,5-million of whom live in refugee camps.
Armed clashes in Sudan's Darfur region doubled in the first seven months of the year compared with the same period in 2005, with the number of people killed rising 376%, the United Nations said on August 9.
In recent weeks, fighting has escalated in northern Darfur between a faction of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army, led by Minni Minnawi, who signed the peace accord with the government, and other insurgent groups that oppose the agreement.
“While the news cameras are focused on the conflict in Lebanon, the situation in Sudan has quietly grown more dangerous and desperate than ever,'' Oshidari said.
The Darfur conflict started in February 2003 when rebel groups, demanding a greater share of wealth and political power, attacked government forces. The authorities in Khartoum responded by organizing militias known as the Janjaweed in a violent campaign to wipe out the insurgents.
“It would be a disaster for the people of Darfur if the security deteriorated to the point where we were unable to deliver more widely,'' Oshidari said.
WFP needs $350-million to pay for food in the first three months of next year for the 6-million people throughout southern, central, eastern and western Sudan that depend on aid, he said.
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