NAIROBI, March 16 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Friday it would halve food handouts for more than 1 million people uprooted by war in northern Uganda due to lack of funds, and warned of more cuts for children and HIV/AIDS victims.

In a statement, the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) said 90 percent of 1.28 million people currently living in camps after two decades of civil war were relying on it for their survival.

"Until we have sufficient funds to buy food locally, we will be forced from April 1 to reduce by half the amount of maize and beans that we give to each displaced and refugee family in Uganda," WFP Uganda Country Director Tesema Negash said.

"If we don't cut them by 50 percent in the next few weeks, the relief operation would grindto a halt in May."

If the shortage of funds continued, WFP said, it would be forced to make further cuts in May to rations for 600,000 school children fed under an emergency food for education programme, as well as some 240,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers.

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