Friday, April 21 2006 11:56 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

United Nations: Relief operations in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region are on the verge of collapse, placing millions of people at risk, the top UN humanitarian official told the Security Council today (Apr 21, 2006).

"I think it's a matter of weeks or months that we will have a collapse in many of our operations," UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland told reporters after his presentation on the crises in Darfur, northern Uganda and Chad, which followed a nine-day mission to these nations.

Egeland said the disastrous combination of a worsening humanitarian situation, government obstruction, rebel violence and weakened support of the international community had led to the present situation.

"As I told the Security Council today, I don't think the world has understood how bad it has become of late," Egeland said adding that 200,000 people were displaced in the last three or four months alone, on top of the 1.6 million already displaced.

More than three million people are in need of daily humanitarian assistance, he said, with 210,000 of these requiring food urgently.

Egeland regretted that the world was turning its back on Darfur, with only the United Kingdom giving more this year than last and many donors not giving at all.

"Maybe this world in 2006 is only able to run sprints and not marathons," Egeland surmised. "Because this is a marathon. In 2005, we had more diplomatic support than we've had in 2006, we had more funding; we had more pressure on the parties than we've had this year," he said.