The violence in Darfur, which has destroyed the livelihood of up to a million people, has created ”an unprecedented food crisis”, the Red Cross said on Tuesday.
Attacks by the government-backed Janjaweed militia, which has burned villages and looted cattle during its attempt to crush a rebellion, have devastated agriculture and trade.
Villagers who have not fled to refugee camps have been able to plant only a third of their normal crop, the Red Cross said. In most cases their seed, tools and cattle have been stolen.
On a recent visit to Darfur, The Guardian found survivors of Janjaweed attacks living on watermelon seeds and grass pollen in the ruins of their villages.
The Red Cross said: ”Most rural communities in north, west and south Darfur are facing an unprecedented food crisis, worse even than the famines they faced in the eighties and nineties.
”A combination of insecurity and drought has overcome the coping mechanisms that normally ensure the communities’ survival.”
The price of staple foods has risen dramatically. Millet and sorghum, which are used to make a mash or flat bread to accompany meat and vegetables, cost two or three times as much as last year.
Families have to rely far more on gathering wild plants, which now make up 85% of their diet.
But ranging far from their villages to collect them exposes men and women to further attacks from roaming bands of Janjaweed.
Villagers were ”caught up in a vicious circle of fear and hunger,” the Red Cross said, adding that the relative security and availability of food in the camps might tempt even more villagers to flee their homes.
It planned to continue providing food aid to villagers in their own areas, to avoid having them swell the population in the camps.
It added: ”[We] will also distribute seeds and tools for the next planting season, between May and July 2005, to assist the communities in recovering from the destruction waged on them over the last year.”
The UN estimates that about 70 000 people have died from hunger and disease since the conflict began last year.
A new round of peace talks between the Sudanese government and the two Darfur rebel groups is due to begin on Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
They are expected to focus on security arrangements to allow the refugees to return to their villages safely and let aid workers operate without hindrance. – Guardian Unlimited Â