POLITICS: Sudan Donates Food to Niger Amid Famine in the South

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nhial Bol

KHARTOUM, May 6 1998 (IPS) - While thousands of people in Southern Sudan face starvation, the government announced Wednesday that it would donate 5000 tonnes of sorghum to Niger.

Sudanese President General Omar Hassan al Bashir, said at a press conference in the capital Khartoum that the donation would help Niger out of its food crisis, which has been caused by drought.

The press conference was called to mark the end of a three-day state visit by Niger’s President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara. General al Bashir said Wednesday that ” the Sudanese people would not tie their hands, while their brothers in religion (Islam) face a hunger situation”. President Bare arrived in the country on Monday (May 4).

“Islam teaches us the principles of ‘Takuful’ (social interdependence), which we in Sudan adhere to,” said President al Bashir.

“The food is now ready to be taken to Niger from the Sudanese ports, and we want our faithful brothers to benefit at this difficult hour,” he told journalists.

But while Sudan sends assistance to Niger, relief agencies are struggling to prevent thousands of deaths from famine in the Southern Bahr al Ghazal and other parts of Southern Sudan.

Some 380,000 people in both the government and rebel-held areas in Bahr al Ghazal are in need of food, while more than 400,000 people in other parts of the South also face starvation, according to the relief agencies.

Food has become a political weapon in the government’s war with the Southern rebel movement, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), which is fighting against Arab, Islamic rule.

Peace talks between the SPLA and the Khartoum government opened on Monday in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). IGAD, chaired by Kenya, has sought to mediate an end to the war since September 1993.

At the start of this week’s round of peace talks, both sides indicated that the negotiations would not lead to a cease-fire.

The Khartoum government has given the go-ahead for more relief flights into Southern Sudan in the coming four months under the United Nations Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS), in response to donors warnings on the food situation.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that children are especially vulnerable during the food crisis, and it also has appealed for an additional 4.5 million U.S. Dollars to respond to non-food needs in Bahr al Ghazal.

And, the World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed to donors to provide an additional 20.2 million U.S. Dollars to the 109.4 million U.S. Dollars originally requested to meet the food and non- food needs of the war and drought-affected Sudanese in the South.

Save the Children Fund (SCF) has indicated, according to the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network, that a “foreseeable crisis” is developing in other areas in Sudan due to a weakened food economy and huge population displacements.

It specifically mentioned the West Upper Nile State, where about “200,000 people have been displaced”.