2014 Top Stocks Market, Best Stocks Investment In 2014, Top Stocks For 2014: U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Lyman Says Half a Million May Face Famine

About half a million people inSudan��s border states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile mayface ��emergency conditions bordering on famine�� by March, saidthe U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Princeton Lyman.

This ��could be a horrific tragedy that would rattle thesouls of Africa and the world for years to come,�� Lyman saidtoday in Pretoria, the South African capital. African leadersshould urged Sudan to allow international and United Nations aidagencies access to the area, he said.

��There is a lot of pressure if that doesn��t happen to tryand provide assistance across the border against the wishes ofthe government of Sudan,�� he said. ��We have made no decisionto do that.��

Border state clashes have intensified since South Sudanseceded on July 9 and took control of the former state��s oiloutput of 490,000 barrels a day. President Umar al-Bashir��sgovernment is battling members of the Sudan People��s LiberationMovement-North, which was part of South Sudan��s ruling partyuntil the south��s independence and is banned by Sudan.

Zach Vertin, a Sudan analyst with the Brussels-basedInternational Crisis Group, said President Barack Obama��sadministration has been discussing the possibility of startingan operation to provide aid to civilians in Southern Kordofanand Blue Nile without Sudan��s approval.

Pressure to Act

��Washington has given this a great deal of thought, as itand others have made clear that it will be difficult to ignorefurther catastrophe in Southern Kordofan,�� he said today byphone from Nairobi, Kenya. ��It��s a very tough call, but withKhartoum providing no avenues for cooperation and an evengreater humanitarian crisis looming, Washington feels pressed toact.��

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice saidyesterday that Sudan��s government has ��deliberately deniedaccess�� to international aid and UN workers in the conflict inthe two states, Her concerns were spelled out in a Jan. 16letter to the president of the Security Council, Sou! th Afric a��sBaso Sangqu.

U.S. provision of aid without Sudan��s consent, Vertin said,��could potentially prompt a negative response from Khartoum,cause further deterioration of U.S.-Sudan relations, andgenerate consternation from those already made wary byinternational intervention in Libya.��

Direct Confrontation

Lyman said the fighting in the two states risks drawingSudan and South Sudan into direct confrontation.

��It��s a serious conflict and because of that conflictthere have been clashes between the government of Sudan and theforces of South Sudan over the border,�� he said. ��So there isa danger not only in that conflict, but of it spreading andinvolving the two countries. It��s a danger if this conflictisn��t brought under control.��

Lyman urged the Sudanese authorities to halt bombing in thestates and said that if they did and allowed aid groups accessto Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile, the U.S. was willing to��move forward�� on discussions about removing Sudan from aState Department list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Sudan has been categorized by the U.S. as a state sponsorof terrorism since 1993 and subject to U.S. economic sanctionssince 1997.

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