Some 2.6 million Sudanese could die of starvation

A US non-governmental organization on Thursday said that some 2.6 million Sudanese citizens are threatened with death by hunger in the coming months. 1.2 million of them are in South Sudan.

AFP quoted the director of the US Committee for Refugees Roger Winter as saying at a press conference held in Washington that the threat of starvation was limited to 350,000 persons two months ago, noting the situation today in Sudan is worse than expected.

For his part, the analyst at the US Committee for Refugees Jeff Drometer said the World Food Program, which is one of the UN agencies, needs 38,000 tonnes of foodstuffs during the next four months. He added that thousands Sudanese in the south are either physically weak or sick. He noted that the World Food Program's 13 food distribution centers in Sudan "are our last chance to save the lives of those people."

He asserted that despite all efforts exerted the starvation will continue until September 1999, a date which he viewed as a turning point because at that time the Sudanese will be able to collect their harvests.