Friday, May 29, 1998 Published at 08:21 GMT 09:21 UK
Sudan raiders massacre villagers
Villagers have little left to survive on after the attacks
The Sudanese government has been accused of using local militia to carry out massacres of whole villages in the rebel-held province of Bahr-el-Ghazal, where more than half a million people face starvation.
He said the attackers had made off with livestock and even young women and children. Slaving in this part of the world still goes on.
Whole communities in the area have moved because of the threat of mass starvation.
An international aid effort to try and feeds the hundreds of thousands people affected is being complicated by renewed fighting between government forces and rebels in the region.
Row over media coverage
Journalists have been accused of exaggerating the crisis and of failing to report its wider context.
There have been countercharges from reporters that aid agencies have been more concerned about the media coverage of the crisis than handling the famine itself.