Three million Sudanese vulnerable to starvation

The UN Food program on Thursday warned that 3 million Sudanese are vulnerable to starvation and that thousands might die by the coming July because of food shortage as a result of drought and war.

The program which has Rome as a headquarters said that the program expected food to be consumed and ended in the vulnerable area by the mid of April at a time when drought continues as well as the civil war which has entered its 18 years.

In a statement, the food program said that it is in particular feels concerned as its supplies will expire at the time when the dough season befalls.

The representative of the food program Mesoud Haidar said: " all food supplies will expire unless large and new food supplies will come from the international community and we will face a great crisis of grave consequences that is similar to previous ones in the region." He added " parts of the country ( Sudan) face the driest season ever remembered and will have effect on 600,000 citizens. Besides that there are still 2.4 million who are in a drastic need to help because of the continuity of the civil war."

He continued: " that the world food program is intended to appeal to the international community to provide aid of a value exceeding $ 100 million."

Meantime, the Kenyan President Daniel Arab Moi started a visit to al-Khartoum on Thursday to hold talks with his Sudanese counterpart Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan al-Bashir on the initiative of the government's commission for development ( IGAD) which aims at ending the civil war in Southern Sudan.

President al-Bashir welcomed President Moi at the airport. The Sudanese news agency said that the two Presidents will " hold official talks on the efforts exerted by IGAD's members states."