March 13, 2003	Thursday	Muharram 9, 1424

LONDON: The United Nations accused the world on Tuesday of allowing the crisis in the Middle East to distract it from a famine threatening more than a million people in the Central African Republic (CAR), saying it had not received a penny in response to an urgent appeal for funds.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) launched its US dollars 6.1m appeal two months ago to help feed 150,000 displaced people in the war-torn country where aid workers say many are surviving on seeds.

“We haven’t received a penny,” Christiane Berthiaume, a WFP spokeswoman, said, adding that the appeal target was “a minimal amount compared to funds needed for other crises”.

“This can be called the world’s most silent crisis, a drama that is being played out amid total indifference, a civil war tearing apart a country without anyone talking about it,” she said.

The WFP relaunched the appeal on Tuesday, saying it needed the money to purchase 8.2m tons of food.

Since October, aid workers have not been able to reach 1.2m people in the north, where food has run out.

The international community’s failure to respond to the CAR’s troubles contrasts with its actions to avert a famine in southern Africa. A report from British MPs published on Tuesday said the western donors’ relief efforts there, coordinated by the WFP, had been a success.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.