Giving new urgency to the rising public outcry against the Darfur genocide, the UN's World Food Program has been forced to halve the food rations for 6.1 million Sudanese whose ability to provide for themselves has been disrupted by civil war and displacement.

Donor states have simply not given enough aid to maintain the humanitarian effort, and the program has been forced to cut the food ration per person by 50%, from 2,100 calories/day to 1,050 calories/day. With other international aid agencies being driven from the region as a result of escalating violence, UN officials have estimated that as many as 100,000 people a month may die of starvation.

An attempt by the African Union to moderate an end to violence was set back significantly today, as the two major factions opposing the Khartoum regime rejected a proposal which the Sudanese government endorsed earlier in the day. The rebel groups objected that the agreement would not sufficiently address the immediate security and humanitarian issues.

With UN peacekeeping operations unlikely to occur without the permission of the Khartoum government, and Russia and China scuttling Security Council efforts to apply even minimal sanctions on the regime, the U.S. and Britain, among other countries, have begun considering NATO intervention. China relies on Sudanese oil, and provides arms to the government.

On the reduction of refugee rations, James Morris, director of the World Food Program, said, "This is one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. Haven't the people of Darfur suffered enough?"

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Rations halved for Darfur refugees

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