Geneva - In a move to avert famine, the UN has appealed for $65.8 million to finance emergency airdrops of food to starving victims of war and drought in southern Sudan.
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said it aimed to deliver 83,000 tonnes of food over the next year to 2.48 million hungry, displaced people in Sudan. Most of the nearly 2.5 million hungry are in the south, which is held by the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLA).
"We are tragically near famine. Our job is to avert that famine and that is why we need more planes to do airdrops," said Ms Christiane Berthiaume of the WFP.