In Sudan aid groups say tens of thousands have fled the violence on the city of el-fasher in the darfur region, which is in the midst of a more than two-year civil war.

In makeshift camps this past week up paramilitary force captured the city.

And killed hundreds of people >> For fewer 60 people in a single street or 10 or 20 people, they killed them, and then they would go to the next street and bang, bang, bang.

That is the massacre I saw.

John: Following an official declaration famine is spreading through Sudan.

Earlier I spoke with Sheldon yet, the unicef representative in Sudan.

Sheldon: I talked to women who had walked for days.

This was just a huge explosion of violence on October 26.

They talked about not knowing where their husbands or sons were.

Having to eat animal feet, having nothing.

The city had been under siege for 600 days.

More than one individual said they had no idea what had happened to their children, the rest of their family, no idea what would happen to them next.

There was a level of anxiety, of fear, of knowing they have been displaced once, and hearing they would be displaced yet again as the conflict continues to expand.

John: Tell us what unicef is doing on the ground.

What are your efforts like?

Sheldon: Efforts targeted on those who are trying to survive the massacres that happened in el-fasher.

We have 80,000 people who left the city, who have gone to various towns around darfur.

Unicef is screening for now nutrition, getting access to water and sanitation, and social support.

This population has been exposed to huge levels of sexual violence, many women have been raped.

These children have been exposed to horrific violence, lots of psychological scars.

John: A monitoring group confirmed famine in parts of Sudan.

What is this exit this --exodus done to that?

Sheldon: This area in el-fasher, this is conflict-induced famine.

N those areas of conflict we have famine, people who have nothing, and now malnutrition.

John: The monitoring group says that they see famine and risk of famine in Sudan as symptoms of a broader, deepening crisis.

Is that how you see it as well?

Sheldon: Yes, that is right.

We are 2.5 years into the conflict in the front lines continue to move.

The number of displaced continues to grow.

There are some 30 million in the country that need humanitarian assistance, half of them children.

And 80% of the children in this country.

John: Is it possible to say with a top priority should be, or what unicef's top priority is?

Sheldon: It depends where in Sudan.

In parts of the country like el-fasher and north darfur, we need to see an end to the violence itself, make sure children are safe, women, schools are not being targeted, that people can have a normal life and feel free to go outside without fear of being shot.

John: What is the latest you are hearing from el-fasher and darfur?

Sheldon: The instability and violence is continuing.

Numbers continue to grow.

People are walking for days to surrounding communities.

They are arriving malnourished, dehydrated, on deaths door.

We are hearing of many unaccompanied children that must be united with their families who are still alive, and must get the support they require, to be full citizens of their country.

John: There has been intense global attention on gaza.

Is there any sense the attention has been less on Sudan, or it has been overshadowed, the world is focused elsewhere?

Sheldon: It is not a competition of course but this is the largest humanitarian emergency in the world, and you would not know it by listening to the world's media.

I have been doing this work for 30 odd years and have not seen something as scalable as Sudan.

I was in Rwanda and I see echoes of what I saw there, the patterns of killings we saw there.

This is a political issue, a war.

Humanitarians can only do so much and we need the resources to provide growing levels of need affecting children and their families.

John: Sheldon yett, unicef Sudan representative, thank you.

Still to come on pbs news weekend, the link between radiation from medical imaging and pediatric cancer and why government regulators want to ban key ingredients and a popular herbal supplements.

♪ announcer: This is the pbs news weekend from the David M. Rubenstein studio at weta in Washington, home of the pbs news hour weeknights on pbs.

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