unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (08/12/89)
UNICEF MEDIA SERVICE Train Convoy Carrying Relief to South to Move Sunday (Associated Press, August 2, 331 words, DATELINE: KHARTOUM) A train loaded with 1,350 tons of relief supplies for famine-wracked southern Sudan will start its long-delayed mission Sunday, the country's relief commissioner said Wednesday. Kamel Shawki made the announcement a day after southern rebels cleared the way for the departure by guaranteeing the train's safety. Bandits and hungry villagers attacked two previous trainloads of food and other relief goods as they rolled through rebel-held territory, seizing much of the supplies. U.N. officials organizing Operation Lifeline Sudan, a relief operation to prevent 100,000 starving deaths during the current rainy season, had vowed that the third convoy would not move without assurances of safety from the rebels. It had been supposed to have left July 17. The trains move food from stockpiles in Babanousa, the northern rail terminus 435 miles southwest of Khartoum, to Aweil in Bahr el-Ghazal region 170 miles south of Babanousa. Aweil is a center for displaced people in southern Sudan. Shawki also said the much-delayed departure of 15 barges would move soon with supplies for Malakal, a Nile River regional capital 420 miles south of Khartoum. He said the government has approved Operation Lifeline's application for the barges to drop off supplies to rebel-held settlements during its trip but that the rebels had not yet responded to the offer. The non-Moslem Sudan People's Liberation Army took up arms against the Moslem-dominated government in 1983, demanding autonomy and administrative and economic reforms. The fighting created a famine that killed 250,000 people in 1988 alone, according to U.N. figures. The United Nations warned of 100,000 potential deaths this year unless the south received 105,000 tons of food before summer rains isolated large areas. The rains began in July and will continue until November. The U.N.-coordinated Operation Lifeline Sudan started in April. Shawki and the United Nations say 85 percent of the supplies have been transported. * Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501) --- Patt Haring | UNITEX : United Nations patth@sci.ccny.cuny.edu | Information patth@ccnysci.BITNET | Transfer Exchange