Bonn, 23rd April 2007. On the occasion of the meeting between the EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs with the UN Special Envoy for Darfur, Eliasson, Welthungerhilfe (German Agro Action)is calling on the EU and the UN to commit itself to resuming the peace process in the western Sudanese hot spot.

"The peace agreement reached almost a year ago was endorsed de facto by a single signatory on the side of the rebels," reminds Hans-Joachim Preuss, Welthungerhilfe's Secretary General. "It was therefore doomed to failure." It's now time to acknowledge the complexity of the conflict: "Claiming it's merely about Arabs against Africans falls far short of doing justice to the problem."

A major cause of the crisis is the systematic neglect of the province. Water shortages and insufficient land have aggravated the conflict in the desert region. "As a result Arab nomads suffer just as much as African farmers," explains Preuss. "The fronts are therefore much more blurred than often presented."

In the overall climate of insecurity and violence, relief agencies like Welthungerhilfe are also suffering, repeatedly forced to break off distribution to refugees and other affected people due to raids and fighting. "Peace negotiations, a ceasefire, a strong peacekeeping force, repatriation of refugees, humanitarian aid and reconstruction is the only way to resolve the conflict," says Preuss.

Deutsche Welthungerhilfe has been active in Sudan since 1998, mainly in the provinces of northern Darfur, western Kordofan and Unity State. In northern Darfur it supplies 485,000 people with food. In Unity State that figure is 185,000. Other focal points of the projects are agriculture, securing food and drinking water supplies.

Welthungerhilfe's Secretary General, Dr. Hans-Joachim Preuss, and Regional Director in Sudan, Johan van der Kamp, are available for interviews upon request.

For further information see www.welthungerhilfe.de