Hunger is likely to persist among people caught up in conflict in Sudan’s border states, despite a government promise to allow food relief into areas that aid groups warn are on the verge of famine. Sudan agreed on June 27 to a plan proposed earlier this year by the African Union, United Nations and Arab League to get humanitarian aid to civilians in areas of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states controlled by a rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N). … “Khartoum has employed one of its classic strategies: the government publicly states acceptance of a proposal it had essentially rejected earlier, but places restrictive conditions on the implementation of that proposal,” said Aly Verjee of the Rift Valley Institute think tank, speaking to AlertNet from Burundi.