Darfur faces a food crisis this year as a result of a "perfect storm" of growing violence, overcrowding in refugee camps and a bad harvest, the United Nations said today.
The conflict in Darfur has prompted the world's largest humanitarian operation, which helps two-thirds of the region's 6 million population.
But this year, a confluence of problems in the western Sudanese region could cause a spike in malnutrition rates and health problems, United Nations officials said.
"Four years into a massive humanitarian operation ... this is the year I think where we are going to see a reduction in (health) indicators as a result of this perfect storm," Mike McDonough, head of the U.N. humanitarian coordination office, said.
Attacks on World Food Programme food convoys have forced a cut in rations to millions in Darfur by almost half since May, and government promises of escorts for aid trucks have not materialised.
"If we don't improve we simply cannot raise this ration in the future," WFP head Kenro Oshidari said at a joint UN agencies news conference. "The reality is that the trucks need to move every single day."
Ted Chaiban, head of the UN children's agency UNICEF, said without trucks moving and full rations, this year's traditional hunger gap as rains cut off roads and farms would be more severe than previous years.
He said a worse harvest this year had already led to prices of basic commodities doubling in Darfur's markets.