in south kordofan, another 60,000 in blue nile. we've seen heavy aerial bombardment and long-range shelling that has terrorized communities and cut off people's access to food, health care, livelihood, trade. the last planting season was disrupted. international humanitarian access has been largely blocked since the beginning of this conflict. sudan the government continues -- the government of sudan continues to prohibit aid from many people in need. we're continuing to provide assistance to the government of sudan-controlled areas in south kordofan and there is some progress reported there. in the areas controlled by the splm north, the outlook is worsening. current predictions are that up to 250,000 people in those areas now face a serious emergency, which is one step short of famine by the end of april if the violence and the restrictions on humanitarian access continues. it is imperative to have immediate humanitarian access to all the communities affected in south kordofan to stave off an emergency situation for a quarter of

in south kordofan, another 60,000 in blue nile.n heavy aerial bombardment and long-range shelling that has terrorized communities and cut off people's access to food, health care, livelihood, trade. the last planting season was disrupted. international humanitarian access has been largely blocked since the beginning of this conflict. the government of sudan continues to prohibit aid from many people in need. we're continuing to provide assistance to the government of sudan-controlled areas in south kordofan and there is some progress reported there. in the areas controlled by the splm north, the outlook is worsening. current predictions are that up to 250,000 people in those areas now face a serious emergency, which is one step short of famine by the end of april if the violence and the restrictions on humanitarian access continues. it is imperative to have immediate humanitarian access to all the communities affected in south kordofan to stave off an emergency situation for a quarter of a million people in the coming months. blue

south sudan. the conflict in kordofan and blue nile was contributing to that. the shutdown of the oil that has been referred to, because the two sides could not agree on the financial of arrangements. the government of sudan in khartoum began diverting south sudan oil. yesterday, we received word that the two countries decided to step back from the brink. they looked at each other and said, "we are going in the wrong direction. the papers would put on the table will not help the situation. we have to step back." we have to go back to the concept we all claimed we were committed to a two viable states taking care of our mutual security and economic needs. they have set a new path for that would include another summit meeting with president bashir coming to juba. it would set a new tone for the negotiations. it would set out a new timetable for dealing with the issues of oil, abyei, and the others. while we take a great deal of hope from this, a lot can depend on what happens in the next several weeks. i want to salute the african union, led by the presidents, wh

the formal break, the sudanese government took military action in the border areas of abyei and south kordofan. that region had been aligned with the south, but now lies north of the new border. fighting there has continued, with growing appeals for world action. actor george clooney is a longtime advocate for peace across sudan. he just returned from there, at a u.s. senate hearing today, clooney described repeated rocket attacks, and said they amount to war crimes. >> what it does is it creates this environment of fear. every time you hear the sounds of those engines and it takes about five minutes for them to get there and they circle. every time you hear the sound, everyone runs and runs to the hills. >> woodruff: clooney and prendergast co-founded the satellite sentinel project, prendergast said today the goal >> just indifference or often ignorance, just don't know. so the thing that i find exciting about the first ten years of the 21st century of activism is the chance through social media and others to create real partnerships. between these wonderful non-governmental organizations tha

regrettably blue nile and south kordofan evidence behavior made it impossible to do that. it's really his choice, their choice. they will decide to some measure where we're going to go. we are prepared to offer open opportunities to go in a different direction. and i know that president obama and the folks, you know, his security advisers and others, and secretary clinton, are greatly focus on this. you'll have an opportunity to meet and talk with them in the next few days, and all of us need to work as we have in a very cooperative, i think across party lines, across branches of government lines, just in a constructive way to try to get the job done. so thank you for helping us today to do our job better, and we appreciate your efforts. if i could ask everybody here, just let the witnesses sort of comeback and ambassador and administrator, but we thank you all for coming. we keep the record open until one week the close of business wednesday, march 21. we stand adjourned. [inaudible conversations] >> [inaudible conversations] >> [inaudible conversations] >> [inaudible con

but there is no food in the states of south kordofan and blue nile inside sudan. not because of drought. not because locusts have destroyed crops. no, madam speaker. this is a deliberate man-made catastrophe made by sudanese president bashir. for years they have been dropping bombs in villages and fields. the people of the nuba mountains, primarily of black african dei sent, cannot work their fields for fear of being -- desent cannot work in their fields for fear of being bombed. roberts rokts bombard their villages. they carry out a scorch of policy. the people of south chord fanned and blue nile are suffering from malnutrition and a shortage of food. they are crossing into the newly independent nation of south sudan, setting up refugee camps along the northern borders. mainly women and children, they arrive traumatized, exhausted and malnourishes -- malnourished. he wants no witnesses to his deliberate use of mass starvation as a weapon against his own people. . the clock is ticking madam speaker, because the rainy season is coming and no one will be able to get