SUDAN: Villages throughout Sudan's Darfur region face an "unprecedented food crisis" worse than the famines of recent decades, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said yesterday.
The warning was based on a study of food supplies in 20 selected villages across the huge region where villagers - those who have not taken refuge in camps - reported they had more trouble coping than in earlier severe droughts, it said.
ICRC officials interviewed 400 villagers and made house-to-house visits in all three provinces last month after poor crops, looting and theft of livestock, a spokesman said. "Most rural communities in north, west and south Darfur are facing an unprecedented food crisis, worse even than the famines they faced in the 80s and 90s," the ICRC said in a statement. It said "insecurity was the root cause of the collapse of agriculture and trade".
The United Nations has threatened sanctions against Sudan over what it calls one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Attacks on villages by bomber planes and militias on the ground since a rebel uprising began in early 2003 have helped to drive more than 1.5 million people from their homes.
A spate of incidents over the past 10 days near the west Darfur capital of El Geneina highlighted dangers for the displaced and aid agencies, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.
A UNHCR team was stopped at gunpoint by police last week, days after two staff of Save the Children were killed by an anti-tank mine in north Darfur, spokesman Ron Redmond said.
According to the United Nations, about 70,000 people have died from hunger and disease in Darfur since March when international agencies began a massive aid effort. The Sudanese government disputes the figure. - (Reuters)