The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that more than 21 million people in Sudan are facing acute levels of hunger, more than two years after fighting erupted in the country. Famine has been confirmed in parts of Sudan, while nearly 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes.
In a statement issued on Friday, the WFP said it has managed to reach more than 10 million of the most vulnerable women, men, and children across Sudan, providing emergency food assistance, cash support, and nutritional aid. The programme noted that it continues to deliver life-saving food assistance to an average of four million people every month, including in areas that were previously extremely difficult to access, such as Darfur and Kordofan states, as well as Khartoum and Al-Jazira.
Ross Smith, Director of Emergencies and Response at the WFP, said: “These hard-won gains are now at risk of being reversed.” He added: “The programme has been forced to reduce food rations to the bare minimum required for survival. By the end of March, we will have exhausted our food stocks in Sudan. Without immediate additional funding, millions of people will be deprived of vital food assistance within weeks.”
Smith further stated that 3.7 million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are suffering from malnutrition, with recent surveys indicating record levels of malnutrition in parts of North Darfur, where more than half of young children are affected.
“A thousand days of conflict is a thousand days of the unimaginable,” Smith said. “Every day the fighting continues pushes families deeper into hunger and drives communities closer to collapse.”
According to the statement, the WFP urgently requires USD 700 million to sustain its operations in Sudan from January through June.
