'Darfur aid situation critical'

2006-10-09 21:13

Rome - Sudan's Darfur region remains the most pressing humanitarian problem in the world, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on Monday in a report detailing food emergencies in 40 countries.

"The already precarious food supply situation (in Darfur) may worsen if deteriorating security disrupts the main harvest due to start in the coming few weeks," the UN agency warned in a report.

"The main concern is the declining stocks and whether supplies will be adequate to meet demand without world prices surging to even higher levels," said the FAO report.

"While the situation in Darfur remains the most critical, elsewhere in eastern Africa, despite improved prospects for the 2006/07 crops in some areas, floods, erratic rains and conflict-related displacement have negatively affected the food situation," said the report.

Cumulative impact of HIV/Aids

"Most of the region's pastoral areas have yet to recover from the successive poor rains that severely affected livestock and resulted in acute food shortages and migration of thousands of people in search of water and food," it added.

"In Somalia, a severe food crisis is expected to persist throughout the country for the rest of 2006, affecting at least 1.8 million people," said the UN agency.

"The majority of the population of the Central African Republic is facing food insecurity following disruption in production and marketing activities as a result of civil strife," it said.

In southern Africa, about 542 000 tons of cereals is needed "due largely to inadequate production, high unemployment, low purchasing power and the cumulative impact of HIV/Aids", said the report.

Food insecurity worsened

"In Zimbabwe, where inflation... is expected to reach more 4 000% next year, 1.4 million rural people - about 17% of the total rural population - will not be able to meet their minimum cereal needs during the 2006/07 season," the report warned.

"In Iraq, conflict and insecurity continues to displace hundreds of thousands of people," it said.

In Asia, food insecurity has worsened in North Korea and persisted in East Timor, while "millions of people in India and Pakistan (are) homeless and in need of food assistance. In China, the worst drought in 50 years has affected more than three million hectares of crops in Sichuan and Chongqing," the report noted.

Finally in Afghanistan heightened conflict over the past year has "further exacerbated food insecurity".

- AFP