By Mayen Benson

JUBA, Sudan, Aug 6 (Reuters) - A global food crisis has taken its toll in Sudan's semi-autonomous south with 12 people dying from hunger in the past week as prices soar and deliveries are hampered by heavy rains, a local official said on Wednesday.

The south is rich in natural resources, but after decades of civil war it relies heavily on imported food from neighbouring east African countries, so rising food and fuel prices globally have hit the region hard.

"In Gogrial East alone, it is reported that 12 people have died of hunger in the last week " said Kuot Deng Kuot, a member of parliament for the area.

He said government efforts to deliver food had been stalled by heavy rains and floods that had cut roads.

"The problem we are facing is that roads become impassable and airlifting of food is expensive" Kuot said.

The north-south Sudan war claimed 2 million lives and drove more than 4 million from their homes.

A landmark 2005 peace deal shared wealth and power and enshrined democratic transformation in Africa's largest country. The south also has a right to vote on secession in 2011 under the deal.

But Southern Agriculture Minister Samson Kwaje said the food crisis could threaten the peace deal if not checked.

"While the soaring food prices are worldwide, fragile states and vulnerable populations like ours who purchase food daily from an unorganised market face greater risk of starvation and poverty," Kwaje said.

He told parliament that food prices in the south had risen by 11 percent between February and June.

A U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) official in the south, George Okech, said south Sudan was affected because it was importing large quantities of food from east Africa where prices have already increased.

He said the FAO had launched a project to support farmers in the south.

(Editing by Opheera McDoom and Robert Hart)

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