Food situation "alarming" in Bahr el Ghazal

The food situation has deteriorated to alarming levels in several parts of Bahr El Ghazal province, southern Sudan, the organisation Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has warned. It said the food shortage was particularly critical in the areas of East-Aweil and Tonj and urged the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) to continue its food distributions to avert starvation. "The current situation is alarming," said Philippe Ribiero, MSF head of mission in South Sudan. "It could become even more serious if general food distributions are not organised quickly." The deterioration in the food situation has been attributed largely to the poor harvests following periods of dryness. "The situation is all the more worrying as the depletion of food stocks is occurring so early in the year, whilst the next harvests are not expected until September," MSF said. WFP said it was monitoring the situation and would extend its emergency distribution in the areas to cover the month of April. WFP spokeswoman Laura Melo said the food agency had carried out assessments which had predicted the region would require interventions during the month of April. "We provided food in the areas in March," she told IRIN. "We realised that the food situation was a bit worse than earlier expected. So we are providing additional food in April."