As many as three million people are threatened by hunger, brought on by the worst drought in living memory, and an ongoing civil war.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Thursday that its food supplies in the country - the third largest in Africa - will run out in two weeks. The agency’s representative in Khartoum, Masood Hyder, said parts of Sudan faced a drought of unprecedented severity. Dams were dry, WFP warehouses were almost empty and humanitarian ceasefires meant to ease the impact of an 18-year civil war had lapsed.

New appeal

"What we are staring at in the face is a break in food supply. We will run out of food in a fortnight," Hyder said. The long civil war, which has already cost up to two million lives, pits the mainly Muslim, Arab north against the mainly black Christian or animist south.

Hyder's comments followed a WFP appeal last month for $135 million to avert a food crisis. The agency is now preparing a second emergency appeal for $100 million for urgent aid to drought and war-affected areas. "We are scraping the barrel. We are doing everything possible, but we really need the donor community to be fully aware of the gravity of this situation," he said.

'Clock is ticking'

Even if donors responded immediately, food would not arrive in the country for three months, Hyder said, forcing WFP to buy food in the region or divert supplies from elsewhere. "If there is an immediate response, the situation can be tackled," he said. "But we are really running out of time and the clock is ticking."