Warning that spiralling food prices are leading to increased poverty and unrest, several senior United Nations officials are calling for urgent measures to tackle the global crisis, which is causing the most suffering among the world's poor.

The World Food Programme's deputy executive director is warning of a "new face of hunger" that will require the combined efforts of governments, the private sector, and humanitarian organizations to overcome.

"Food prices are now rising at rates that few of us can ever have seen before in our lifetimes," John Powell told the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference, DIHAD, a three day event that opened Tuesday at the Dubai International Convention Centre.

Powell said he is concerned about the fact that markets are full of food, but large numbers of people simply cannot afford to buy.

Last month, the World Food Programme said it is seeking funding to close a $500 million gap caused by the global spike in food and fuel prices, which have increased by an estimated 55 percent since last June.
Yesterday, at the same conference, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes warned that rising food prices could spark worldwide unrest and threaten political stability.

In the past few weeks, violent protests over rising food prices have occurred in a number of countries, including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Senegal, Morocco and, most recently, in Haiti, where four people died in food riots last week.

The Haitian riots are continuing despite orders to stop from President Rene Preval, and 9,000 UN peacekeepers have not been able to end the looting and violence over rising food prices.

The world's largest food distribution agency, the World Food Programme has called on donors once again to urgently support its operations in Haiti, which has been particularly vulnerable to the spike in costs.

So far the agency has only received 13 percent, or $12.4 million, of the $96 million required to assist 1.7 million people in Haiti, the Western Hemisphere's poorest country.

s a result, the World Food Programme says it barely has enough funding to support operations throughout April.

Holmes, who is also UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, discussed the issue of high food prices today in meetings with officials in Kuwait, the latest stop on his four-nation visit intended to encourage greater partnership with Gulf states in international humanitarian efforts.