World Food Programme (WFP) trucks carrying critically needed food and nutrition supplies have entered Sudan's Darfur region, the UN agency said on Wednesday (21/8).
The first trucks entered the area on Tuesday night from Chad through the Adre border post, which has been closed for six months by Sudanese authorities. The first trucks were carrying food for about 13,000 people in West Darfur, but WFP has supplies for about 500,000 people ready to enter through the border post.
“We urgently need to reach every corner of Sudan with food assistance – and humanitarian corridors and all border posts need to be open so aid agencies can bring in supplies every day,” WFP Director Cindy McCain said in a statement. “This is the only way to prevent widespread famine.”
The country's severe humanitarian crisis has been caused by a war that began more than a year ago between the Sudanese military and rival paramilitary groups. Since mid-April 2023, more than 18,000 people have been killed in the conflict and more than 33,000 others injured, according to the UN.
McCain said reopening the Adre border post “is critical to efforts to prevent famine from spreading across Sudan, and it must now remain in use. I want to thank everyone who has taken this critical step to help WFP deliver life-saving assistance to the millions of people who desperately need it.”
Adre closed last February, but WFP was able to send two convoys of vehicles in March and April.
Without Adre, WFP is forced to take a longer route into North Darfur via the Tine post in Chad. To reach people in Darfur, WFP must use “long and dangerous routes” from Port Sudan that require the UN agency’s convoys to pass through front lines and areas controlled by various militia groups.
The UN has called Sudan the world's worst humanitarian crisis. In addition to severe hunger, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports more than 10.7 million people, nearly half of them children, are internally displaced and more than 2 million have fled as refugees to neighboring countries.
Mohamed Refaat, IOM’s chief of mission in Sudan, said earlier this month, “Almost all of the people displaced across Sudan – 97% – are in areas with acute food insecurity or worse.”
“Over the next three months, an estimated 25.6 million people will face severe food insecurity as conflict spreads and aid mechanisms are stretched. One in two people struggle to get food every day,” he said. (uh/rs)
