* U.S. says world must take action as famine looms
* Aid groups say Khartoum’s stance limits options
* U.S. fears Sudan oil dispute risks long-term damage
By Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) – The United States fears
a large-scale famine in Sudan’s restive border states of
Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile and is boosting pressure in
Khartoum to accept aid or face a unilateral assistance
operation, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday.
“We are feeling a lot of pressure, if there’s no
international access, to look at ways in which assistance would
be carried across the border without their approval,” Princeton
Lyman, the Obama administration’s special envoy for Sudan, told
reporters.
Lyman cited expert reports which said that the worsening
crisis, which has already caused tens of thousands of people to
flee their homes, could expand to leave more than a quarter of a
million people on the brink of famine by March.
“This could be a major, major calamity,” he said.
Sudan said this week it would continue to allow only limited
access to United Nations agencies and aid groups in the two
border states, where government forces have battled rebels since
June last year shortly before South Sudan declared independence
under a 2005 peace deal..
Continued…
