UN reaches hungry in Darfur, races to save others

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA, May 25 (Reuters) - Aid is reaching more displaced people in Sudan's Darfur region but United Nations agencies said on Tuesday they are racing against time to save many others from dying of hunger and thirst.

The International Crisis Group, an influential think tank, has warned that starvation and disease may kill 350,000 people in Darfur if the world fails to quell violence involving rebels and government-backed militias in the next nine months.

The World Food Programme (WFP), a U.N. agency, hoped to distribute food to 800,000 people during May, up from a total of 700,000 during the first four months of the year, spokeswoman Christiane Berthiaume said.

"This would be clear progress," she told a news briefing.

WFP and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said they have had better access to people displaced by a year-long conflict since a ceasefire was agreed last month. This allowed them to better evaluate needs ahead of the rainy season due in a few weeks.

Rebels and human rights groups have accused Sudan's government of arming Arab militias to loot and burn black African villages and accuse Khartoum of carrying out ethnic cleansing, a charge the government dismisses.

The United Nations has estimated that one million people have been displaced by fighting in Darfur and calls it the largest humanitarian emergency worldwide. Another 125,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to Chad to escape violence.

"It is a race against time," said UNICEF spokesman Damien Personnaz. "We don't have exact figures, but we have been notified of cases of children dying of hunger and thirst."

UNICEF said it was providing 300,000 displaced people with access to clean water, double the number of a few weeks ago, but 700,000 people remained out of reach. It has installed nearly 190 new water pumps and repaired 320 existing ones in the area.

But the rainy season was expected to increase incidences of diarrhoeal diseases linked to poor sanitary conditions.

The Darfur region, where farmers have abandoned crops and food prices have doubled in a year, will need sustained international aid through 2005, according to WFP.

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said on Tuesday that the number of Sudanese crossing into Chad could increase very quickly if the situation did not improve in Darfur.