Sudan – The United Nations has warned the warring parties in Sudan of a serious risk of widespread famine and death in Darfur and elsewhere if they do not allow humanitarian aid into the western region.
Lenny Kinsley, regional spokeswoman for the United Nations World Food Program, said on Friday that at least 1.7 million people in Darfur were suffering from emergency levels of hunger in December, and the number is expected to be “much higher today.”
“Our calls for humanitarian aid to reach hot conflict areas in Sudan have never been more important,” Knolly added in a virtual UN press conference from Nairobi yesterday, Friday.
After Sudan descended into chaos in mid-April 2023, with fighting erupting between its army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the Rapid Support Forces took control of most parts of Darfur and besieged El Fasher, the only capital in the region that it does not control, and in which regarding 500 people took refuge. A thousand civilians.
Kinzli said WFP partners on the ground reported that the situation in El Fasher was “absolutely horrific” and that it was difficult for civilians wanting to flee the reported RSF bombing to leave.
She noted that the violence in El Fasher and surrounding North Darfur is exacerbating critical humanitarian needs in the entire Darfur region, where production of basic grain crops such as wheat and sorghum is 78 percent below the five-year average.
“Recent reports from our partners indicate that 20 children have died in recent weeks due to malnutrition” in a camp for displaced people in central Darfur, Kinzli said.
Kinzley called on the international community to “make a coordinated diplomatic effort to push the warring parties to provide guarantees of access and safety” for humanitarian workers and convoys.
In March, Sudanese authorities revoked a permit granted to the World Food Program to deliver aid from neighboring Chad to West Darfur and Central Darfur from the town of Adre, saying the crossing was being used to transfer weapons to the Rapid Support Forces.
Kinzli reported that restrictions imposed by the Sudanese authorities in Port Sudan also prevent the World Food Program from transporting aid through Adre.
Sudanese authorities agreed to deliver aid from the town of Tina to North Darfur, but Kinzli said the World Food Program might no longer use this route for security reasons because it leads directly to besieged El Fasher.
On Thursday, gunmen in South Darfur killed two International Committee of the Red Cross drivers and wounded three International Committee employees.
Source: “Associated Press”
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2024-05-06 01:30:55
