Flooding worsening food situation - FAO

Following two consecutive years of serious drought, the recent weeks of flooding in Sudan had exacerbated the “already precarious food supply situation” in northern and eastern parts along the Nile, including areas around the capital, Khartoum, GIEWS stated on Wednesday in a special alert on Sudan. Although a full assessment of crop damage was not yet available, preliminary indications suggested “significant crop and livestock losses” in the north, it added. Even before the floods, prospects were poor for the 2001 main season cereal harvest. The report warned that the number of people in need of urgent food assistance in Sudan, estimated at three million earlier in the year, was set to increase with the floods: “The situation will worsen in the coming months unless timely and adequate assistance is provided,” GIEWS stated. [see report at: http://www.fao.org/giews/] Humanitarian agencies have reported tens of thousands of people fleeing their homes in recent weeks, as Sudan was hit by flash floods (in North/South/West Kordofan; North, South and West Darfur, Khartoum and White Nile states) and heavy flooding in the Nile River system (in Khartoum, Northern, River Nile, Gezira, Blue Nile, Sinnar and Upper Nile states). Tuesday’s FAO alert came on the same day the BBC reported that the threat of flooding in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, had eased, with the level of the River Nile in the city dropping rapidly. [for more details, see separate IRIN report of 22 August headlined “SUDAN: Flooding erodes food security in the north”]