WFP delivers food aid to Darfur as Sudan famine looms

Handout photograph of a woman and baby at the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur

FILE PHOTO: A handout photograph, shot in January 2024, shows a woman and baby at the Zamzam displacement camp, close to El Fasher in North Darfur, Sudan. An assessment by Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in January found that at the camp, which is home to an estimated 400,000 people, two babies were dying every hour. Nearly 40% of children aged six months to two years old were malnourished, the group found. MSF/Mohamed Zakaria/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Source: REUTERS

The World Food Programme said on Friday it had negotiated the delivery of the first two convoys of food aid into Sudan's Darfur region in months, amid warnings of impending famine caused by a one-year war and lack of access to food aid.

The war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has sparked widespread hunger in the country, after destroying infrastructure and markets and displacing more than eight million people.

Catastrophic hunger, the term used on the household level for famine conditions, is expected in Khartoum and West Darfur, which have seen the fiercest attacks, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS Net), as well as in many other areas of Darfur that house millions of displaced people.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Niger Roundup: US oil investment push, security concerns in Bilma, soaring meat prices grip Niger

One convoy with 1,300 tonnes of supplies was able to arrive via the Adre border crossing with Chad into West and Central Darfur, two areas already seeing emergency levels of hunger after being overrun by the Rapid Support Forces.

The Sudanese army in February blocked deliveries through Adre after saying that the Rapid Support Forces had received support from the United Arab Emirates through Chad. UN experts have also reported such assistance.

WFP, a United Nations organisation, said it was not sure whether it would be able to negotiate use of the route again.

In early March, the army said it would allow deliveries by air as well as through the Tina border crossing into North Darfur, the only one of Darfur's five states that has not fallen under RSF control. The second convoy used that route, WFP said, and together the convoys contained food for 250,000 people.

More than 18 million people facing acute hunger need assistance, the WFP says.

"I fear that we will see unprecedented levels of starvation and malnutrition sweep across Sudan this lean season," said WFP Sudan Country Director, Eddie Rowe, said in Friday's statement, referring to the upcoming planting months.

The previous cereal harvest is half of previous levels according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation, while prices of some goods have doubled.

Many in Darfur, particularly in displacement camps, say they have not received any aid since before the war. The UN's aid response for Sudan is only 5% funded.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

Global challenges and the decline of democracy: An analysis of the situation in El Salvador by IDHUCA

El Salvador’s transformation is a template for the world. What if it’s a mirage?

This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.

By Reuters