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From IRIN...
Millions of vulnerable people in the western Sudanese region of Darfur and eastern Sudan will receive half-rations of food beginning on Monday, due to a significant shortfall in funding, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said.
By reducing the daily rations to as little as 1,050 kilocalories - half the minimum daily requirement of 2,100 kilocalories per person - the limited food stocks in the region would last longer during the "hunger season," the annual pre-harvest period from July to September, when needs are the greatest.
"It is dramatic. We have only received 32 percent of what we need to feed 6.1 million people during the height of the hunger season," said Peter Smerdon, WFP senior public affairs officer.
Aid agencies are particularly concerned about the effect of reduced rations in Darfur, where rampant insecurity and continued displacement cause enormous suffering. "Food must come first. We cannot put families who have lost their homes and loved ones to violence on a 1,000-calorie-a-day diet," said James Morris, WFP executive director.
For the time being, food rations would not be cut in south Sudan, where most people on food assistance are already receiving only 50 percent or 75 percent of their normal rations. "This will increase malnutrition rates, which is a complete and utter waste of what we did last year, when we managed to bring down malnutrition rates by half [in Darfur]," Smerdon said.
WFP warned it had been impossible to procure and pre-position enough food for full rations for hundreds of thousands of people in areas that would be inaccessible by road during the June-September rainy season.
"We’re not crying wolf. This is a very real crisis, and it is undoubtedly going to be very painful," Smerdon said. "We hope that donors will come up with cash soon, so that we can restore full rations."
From Reuters...
The United Nations said on Friday it would cut food rations for more than 6 million people in Sudan, half of them in Darfur, due to a severe lack of funds.
Many donor countries appear to have tired of the long-term conflict in Darfur, despite signs that malnutrition is again on the rise among people living in squalid camps, the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) said.
WFP said it was halving food aid from the minimum daily requirement of 2,100 calories to 1,050 calories as of May.
"This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Haven't the people of Darfur suffered enough? Aren't we adding insult to injury?" WFP executive director James Morris said.
"This is a measure we should simply never have to take," said Morris, who heads the world's largest food aid agency, feeding 90 million people worldwide.
The Rome-based agency had only received $238 million or 32 percent of its annual appeal of $746 million for Sudan. Africa's largest country is emerging from civil war in the south as talks continue on a peace deal to end a conflict in Darfur.
Spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume told a news briefing: "It is scandalous, but we have no choice."
Fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003 when mostly non-Arab tribes took up arms over land and water resources, accusing the government of neglect. Khartoum is accused of arming mainly Arab militia who began a murder, rape, and looting campaign that killed tens of thousands and uprooted more than 2 million.
"There is probably some donor fatigue. The conflict has been going on a long time. And there is no solution in sight," Berthiaume said.
The United States was the largest donor at $188 million, it said, while Italy was the only major European country to contribute so far ($1.2 million).
"WFP is particularly concerned about the effect of reduced rations in Darfur, where rampant insecurity continues to cause enormous suffering," WFP said in a statement.
The WFP said the cuts would allow limited food stocks to last longer into the annual "hunger season", from July to September, when needs are greatest ahead of the harvest.
The WFP estimates that 2,100 calories a day is the minimum daily requirement needed to stay in good health.
From the BBC...
The UN is cutting in half its daily rations in Sudan's Darfur region due to a severe funding shortfall.
"This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made," James Morris, head of the UN's World Food Programme, said.
From May the ration will be half the minimum amount required each day. The cut comes as the UN said Darfur's malnutrition rates are rising again.
Nearly 3 [million] people in Darfur depend on food aid after being driven off their land in three years of conflict.
Despite a ceasefire and on-going peace negotiations, large areas of Darfur are now affected by fighting between government forces, militias and rebels.
This is also hampering the delivery of food and other aid operations.
Hunger season
"Haven't the people of Darfur suffered enough? We are adding insult to injury," Mr Morris said as he explained that despite appeals to donors, the WFP has received only a third of the money it needs.
More than 6.1 [million] people across Sudan require food aid - more than any other country in the world.
The bill to feed them all is $746 [million].
The United States has provided $188 [million], but little has been received from the European Union and nothing at all from any of Sudan's partners in the Arab League, other than Libya, the WFP says.
The EU says it has allocated 48 [million] euros ($60 [million]) for the whole of Sudan this year, while the UK will donate £49 [million] ($88 [million]) through various aid agencies.
The ration cut is designed to ensure that some food lasts through the "hunger season" between July and September.
"We have been pushed into this last resort of ration cuts in Sudan so we can provide the needy with at least some food during the lean season," Mr Morris said.
The BBC's Jonah Fisher in the capital, Khartoum, says even if more money was to be immediately promised, Darfur's location, in the centre of Africa, means it could still take up to four months for the rations to arrive.
Earlier this week, Ted Chaiban, head of Unicef's mission to Sudan, said in the last three months alone, there had been 200,000 people newly displaced in Darfur.
Aid agencies last year managed to bring the malnutrition rate below the emergency threshold of 15% but south Darfur was seeing those figures again, he said.
The African Union has set a 30 April deadline for the government and rebel groups to accept their draft peace agreement which addresses power-sharing, wealth-sharing and security.
From the AP...
The U.N. food agency said Friday it is halving rations to more than 3 million people in Sudan's embattled Darfur region because of a shortage of funds.
The World Food Program will cut rations from 2,100 calories per person to 1,050, said spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume.
``WFP has to cut the food rations to millions of vulnerable people in Sudan,'' Berthiaume told reporters. ``It's scandalous that people don't have enough to eat.''
Donor governments have given WFP only $238 million of the $746 million it appealed for this year for the whole of Sudan, Berthiaume said.
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