Security key to avoiding repeat famine - OLS

An Annual Needs Assessment report by OLS warns of a bleak year ahead for more than four million Sudanese who have suffered from famine, fighting and flooding during 1994. According to an OLS statement received by IRIN today, people living in Bahr al-Ghazal, Upper Nile and Kassala regions are particularly vulnerable and need assistance. The report warns: “A reversion to acute famine in Bahr al-Ghazal and the emergence of the acute condition in western Upper Nile cannot be ruled out.” According to Philippe Borel, UN Coordinator for Relief Operations in Sudan and head of OLS: “Many people are surviving on a fragile base which insecurity could easily shatter, making a humanitarian ceasefire essential to averting famine in 1999.” WFP estimates that more than 2 million people will need at least 150,000 mt of food until October 1999.