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KHARTOUM, June 17 (AFP) - The Sudanese government will begin moving food aid to alleviate shortages in southern Unity State, a government official was quoted as saying Monday.

Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Sulaf Eddin Salih was quoted by the official Al Anbaa daily as saying that 10,000 tonnes of grain would be dispatched from Monday from Kosti, on the Nile in central Sudan, to Unity State's capital Bentiu.

In addition, "considerable quantities" of food would be flown from El Obeid in central Sudan's Kordofan region, to five locations in Unity State from June 21-25.

The Sudanese government and the United Nations have recently reached agreement for flying humanitarian assistance to Unity State from El Obeid and to northern Bahr el-Ghazal State from Lokichokio in north Kenya.

However the World Food Programme (WFP) said Monday it had to return to Ethiopia 5,000 tonnes of sorghum, originally intended to be distributed to Sudanese primary schools in areas suffering food shortages.

The UN food agency said the Sudanese customs and agriculture authorities had blocked entry of the sorghum for six months for unclear reasons.

The WFP said it had communicated to the government its regret at the non-delivery of the sorghum, which it had purchased from Ethiopia with a cash grant from the Norwegian government.- Nampa-AFP