Sudan is on course to become the world’s worst hunger crisis, with children already dying, UN says

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The nearly year-long conflict between Sudan’s military and paramilitary forces has put the African nation on course to become the world’s worst hunger crisis with malnutrition soaring and already claiming children’s lives, the U.N. humanitarian office is warning. Edem Wosornu, the director of humanitarian operations, told the U.N. Security Council Wednesday that one-third of Sudan’s population – 18 million people – face acute food insecurity, and catastrophic hunger levels could be reached in some areas of the western Darfur region by May. She said in one Darfur camp a recent assessment found that one child is dying every two hours, and the U.N.’s humanitarian partners estimate that in the coming weeks and months “around 222,000 children could die from malnutrition.”