Famine threatens Darfur
2004-05-20 14:16
Nairobi - The entire population of Sudan's Darfur region, where civilians have borne the brunt of a 15-month old conflict, "is teetering on the verge of mass starvation," the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned on Thursday.
A nutritional survey carried out by MSF in the western region revealed that "threat of famine is looming" and that there were "dangerously high levels of malnutrition and mortality with a rapidly deteriorating food security situation" there.
The Khartoum government has been widely accused of conducting a policy of "ethnic cleansing" in Darfur and of targetting civilians in its response to a rebellion that began in February 2003 and of hampering essential humanitarian access.
"The whole population is teetering on the verge of mass starvation," MSF said in a statement.