Sudan: Fleeing war to face starvation

James Manuen Deng is holding his sobbing two-year-old son Garang, who is wrapped in bandages and blankets. The sick child - named after the late southern rebel leader John Garang - nearly died before being admitted to the therapeutic feeding centre in Nyamlell in Aweil North, a county in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Deng is a member of the Dinka ethnic community in the southern Sudanese state of Northern Bahr el Ghazal, which comprises the counties of Aweil North, East, South and West. Deng fled his village during the war-induced famine that ravaged the region in 1988 and claimed approximately 70,000 lives. He returned home in March, on the run again, this time fleeing the escalating violence in the neighbouring state of South Darfur.