Child Malnutrition Rising in Darfur, U.N. Says

CAIRO, Dec. 27 -- Malnutrition has increased among children in Darfur over the past year despite a massive humanitarian aid effort in the war-torn Sudanese region, according to a U.N. report obtained Thursday.

More than four years since the conflict began, escalating violence against local people and humanitarian workers alike has made it difficult to get food and other aid to the 4.2 million people affected, U.N. officials said.

The study, obtained by the Associated Press, found that 16.1 percent of children affected by the conflict suffer from acute malnutrition, compared with 12.9 percent a year earlier. It was the first time the rate has been above the World Health Organization's 15 percent "emergency threshold" for malnutrition since 2004, a year after the conflict in Darfur began, when it ran at 21.8 percent.

"We are concerned because insecurity has compromised our ability to reach people in need," said Stephanie Bunker of the United Nations' humanitarian affairs operation.