CAIRO: International relief agencies are sounding the alarm about a looming food crisis in western Sudan as they report a growing number of people fleeing militias burning their villages and farmland.

The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for Sudan warned that the problem there “may emerge as the worst humanitarian crisis in the Sudan since 1998” when tens of thousands of people died in a region just to the south.

The UN coordinator’s office has in the past month raised its estimate from 400,0000 to 500,000 for the number of people displaced within the Darfur region, in addition to 70,000 who have actually crossed the border into Chad.

“That’s a major population movement (to Chad). It’s a pretty good sign that things are becoming intolerable,” said Ben Parker, a spokesman for the humanitarian coordinator, Mukesh Kapila.

Since February, the region has been wracked by clashes between a rebel group, the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM), and government forces backed by Arab militias.

The SLM is demanding a better economic deal from Khartoum.

Despite reports of violations, a shaky government-rebel ceasefire brokered by Chad is holding.

However, there are no signs the Arab militias have stopped burning villages and farmland.

Conflicts have long simmered between ethnic Arab nomadic tribesmen and African farmers, but they appear to have spun out of control since the government used them in the war against the rebels, relief workers say.—AFP