Hunger worsening in Sudan, WFP warns
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WFP's Sudan Spokesperson asserts that food distribution is now ongoing in West and Central Darfur, during a press briefing in Geneva.
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Sudanese refugees displaced by the conflict in Sudan gather to receive food staples from aid agencies at the Metche Camp in eastern Chad, on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (AP)
The World Food Programme has confirmed that for the first time in months, critically needed supplies have entered Sudan's Darfur region as it warns that hunger in the area will worsen.
WFP's Sudan Spokesperson Leni Kinzli asserted on Friday that food distribution is now ongoing in West and Central Darfur, during a press briefing in Geneva, via video address from Nairobi.
"We are extremely concerned that unless the people of Sudan receive a constant flow of aid via all possible humanitarian corridors -- from neighboring countries and across battle lines -- the country's hunger catastrophe will only worsen," Kinzli said.
"The temporary halt of the humanitarian corridor from Chad as well as ongoing fighting, lengthy clearance processes for humanitarian cargo, bureaucratic impediments, and security threats have made it impossible for humanitarians to operate at the scale needed to meet the hunger needs in Sudan," she continued, adding that cereal harvest was 78% below the five-year average.
"Hunger in Sudan will only increase as the lean season starts in just a few weeks. Our greatest fear is that we will see unprecedented levels of starvation and malnutrition sweep across Sudan this lean season -- and that the Darfur region will be particularly hard-hit."
Read more: Nearly 230,000 children, new mothers risk dying of hunger in Sudan
She reiterated that the route through Chad was "vital if the humanitarian community stands a chance of preventing widespread starvation" in West Darfur.
Meanwhile, during the same briefing, World Health Organization Spokesperson Margaret Harris said, "Essentially, the health situation is disastrous... This is an ongoing health catastrophe."
The ongoing battles between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the Rapid Support Forces, have left tens of thousands dead and more than eight million displaced from their homes, which has made it the world's largest displacement crisis.
For over two decades in Darfur, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have employed the "scorched earth" war tactic, involving the deliberate widespread destruction of property and resources.
Due to the destruction the region is seeing, almost 650,000 Darfur citizens fled to the bordering country of Chad, but many remain stuck in the face of the dangers of war and blocked aid.
More than 18 million Sudanese are struggling with acute food insecurity, a record during harvest season, and 10 million more than at this time last year, while 730,000 Sudanese children are predicted to be suffering from severe malnutrition.
