The UN World Food Programme is appealing for over 200 million dollars to help it urgently boost emergency food and nutrition aid in war-ravaged Sudan, where the threat of famine looms as "catastrophic" conditions for civilians worsen and fighting intensifies in battle zones like El Fasher and Khartoum.
The UN food agency is scaling up to provide life-saving food and nutrition assistance to an additional 5 million people by the end of this year, doubling the number of people Rome-based WFP had planned to support at the start of 2024, it stated on Thursday.
Hunger is deepening in Sudan and in neighbouring countries to which millions of people have fled, creating a hunger crisis that could become the world’s largest, the WFP statement warned.
“Sudan is in the grip of widespread hunger and malnutrition. WFP continues to expand its food and nutrition assistance to reach millions more people who are living through the daily horrors of war," said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa.
"The situation is already catastrophic and has the potential to worsen further unless support reaches all those affected by conflict,” Dunford added.
WFP will provide support in cash to 1.2 million people in 12 states. This also gives a vital boost to local markets and food producers, said the statement. The UN agency is also increasing how much food or cash it provides to people facing the most severe levels of hunger – more than two million people across more than 40 hunger hotspots identified by WFP.
Some communities in these areas – mostly in regions where fighting is ongoing, like the Darfurs, Kordofans, Khartoum and Gezira – are at a high-risk of slipping into famine-like conditions if they do not receive urgent and sustained support, the statement said.
“The situation in Sudan is not so much forgotten as neglected. It is already the largest displacement crisis in the world, and it has the potential to become the world’s largest hunger crisis," Dunford said.
"As global leaders focus elsewhere, it (Sudan) is not receiving the necessary attention...urgent action is needed,” Dunford added.
WFP is working "around the clock" to expand access and open new humanitarian corridors to get food supplies moving to communities in all parts of the country – across frontlines from eastern Sudan via Dabbah in Northern State, from Kosti into the Kordofans, and across borders from Chad, Egypt and South Sudan, said the statement.
WFP is also pre-positioning food at key border crossings and along supply routes because the imminent rainy season will make roads in the Darfurs and Kordofans impassable, the statement noted.
WFP is also working with smallholder farmers, many displaced by conflict, to boost wheat production. The first harvest supported through this programme – financed by the African Development Bank – gave 170,000 farmers climate-adapted wheat seeds and fertilizer, boosting their production by up to 70 percent over the last year and offering them a vital safety net as Sudan’s lean season begins.
Food security is drastically deteriorating, however, and could hit levels not seen in Sudan since the early 2000s, the statement underlined.
Famine-like conditions are caused not only by a lack of food, but also a lack of medical care and clean water – all a devastating reality for Sudan’s population, the statement noted.
People are resorting to desperate measures such as eating grass and wild leaves just to survive, the statement warned.
Malnutrition among children in Sudan "has also hit shocking levels" leaving an entire generation at risk with children already dying of malnutrition-related causes, the statement underlined.
WFP has given food aid to over 6.7 million people in all of Sudan’s 18 states since the current conflict began in April 2023 and urgently needs over US$200 million to continue delivering life-saving assistance through the rest of the year, the statement concluded.
