UN to send massive food aid to conflict-hit states in Sudan

The United Nations will send 8,000 metric tons of food assistance in the coming weeks to Sudan’s conflict-plagued states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile in order to help the local people, who are “seriously affected by food shortages.”“We are deeply concerned by the reports of food shortages in Sudan,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said at a daily news briefing on Thursday. “The (UN) Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is assessing food needs in 23 government-held locations in South Kordofan,” he said. “More than 8,000 metric tons of food assistance will be moved for distribution in the coming weeks,” Nesirky said. “The areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile that are not under government control appear to be the most seriously affected by food shortages,” he said. “So far, some 109,000 people in need of food assistance have been identified.”The South Kordofan state has been witnessing armed clashes between the Sudanese army and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA)/northern sector since June 5, 2011. Earlier this month, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement ( SPLM)/northern sector claimed that tension in the South Kordofan and Blue Nile areas had escalated, because the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudanese army adopted security arrangements without consulting with the movement in a bid to disarm the SPLA.