Darfur disaster eclipses outlook in the south - WFP

The UN’s food agency warned on Thursday that the continuing humanitarian emergency in Sudan's western region of Darfur had overshadowed the "fairly bleak" food outlook for the south in 2005. "When a comprehensive peace agreement is signed between the government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, the food security situation in the south would likely worsen with an influx of people returning to their homes," the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement issued in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. The agency said that the findings of this year’s WFP Rapid Needs Assessment mission in October projected a 20-50 percent decline in food production in southern Sudan, except for Western Equatoria, compared with the good harvests during the previous year. WFP said the main reasons for the expected decline in food production were late, below normal and poorly distributed rains that had been exacerbated by inter-clan conflicts and militia attacks. "Many of southern Sudan’s problems are man-made, but the poor rains were obviously beyond anyone’s control and leave many people almost totally dependent on outside assistance," said Bai Bojang, WFP operations manager for the southern sector. "We cannot allow this frustrating reality to stand in the way of historic opportunity. We have to start putting the south back on its feet." "We need cash and food contributions now – well before the critical hunger period from March to August 2005," he added. Bojang said food aid needed to be shipped next month because of the huge logistical challenges in the south. Before the rainy season starts in June, food-aid stocks needed to be pre-positioned, which would save on air transport and ensure that communities cut off by the rains receive supplies at the right time. Regions hit most by insufficient rains this year are Jonglei, Upper Nile, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal, Eastern Equatoria and Lakes. The annual "hunger season" in these areas lasted until October, instead of August and after the failure of early crops of sorghum, maize, sesame, vegetables and legumes. Meanwhile the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday it was deeply concerned over increased violence against children in Darfur. "Reports of violence against Sudanese women and children in and around camps for civilians displaced by fighting in Darfur seem to be increasing rather than diminishing," UNICEF said in a statement. The UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said in the statement that reports of aid agency monitors "strongly dispute claims that the situation is under control" in the western region. "Children are not just being driven from the lands of their ancestors. They are witness to and victims of violent terror. They suffer deprivation and sickness in their bid to escape," Bellamy said. "And they seek asylum along with their families in camps in which their security cannot be guaranteed," she added. Aid agencies working in the troubled region had expressed dismay at the steadily increasing number of people arriving in the camps, as well as a surge in violent incidents in and around the camps themselves, UNICEF said. "Children are said to have been loaded on to trucks and transported to a new camp without their parents and injured in Government attempts to relocate camps," UNICEF added. "This forced relocation is in clear violation of international humanitarian law and existing agreements recently signed by the government of Sudan." The conflict in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias allied to it against the Sudanese Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) and the Justice and Equity Movement (JEM), who are fighting to end what they have called marginalisation and discrimination of the region by the state. The conflict has displaced an estimated 1.45 million people and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad.