UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations Food Agency warned warring parties in Sudan on Friday that there is a serious risk of widespread famine and deaths in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they do not allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region.
Leni Kinzli, the World Food Program’s regional spokesperson, said at least 1.7 million people in Darfur were experiencing emergency levels of hunger in December, and that number “is expected to be much higher today.”
“Our call for humanitarian access to conflict hotspots in Sudan has never been more crucial,” she told a virtual UN press conference from Nairobi.
In mid-April 2023, Sudan plunged into chaos as long-simmering tensions between the army led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo erupted into street fighting in the capital Khartoum. The fighting has spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas and the Darfur region.
The paramilitary forces, known as the RSF, have taken control of most of Darfur and are besieging El Fasher, the only capital in Darfur they do not control, where some 500,000 civilians had taken refuge.
Kinzli said WFP partners on the ground report that the situation in El Fasher is “extremely dire” and it is difficult for civilians fleeing reported RSF bombing and shelling to leave.
She said the violence in El Fasher and surrounding North Darfur is exacerbating critical humanitarian needs across the Darfur region, where crop production for staple grains such as wheat, sorghum and millet is 78% lower than the five-year average.
In addition to the impact of the escalating violence, Kinzli said: “WFP is concerned that hunger will increase dramatically as the lean season between harvests arrives and people run out of food.” She said a farmer in El Fasher recently told her that her family had already run out of food supplies and was living day to day, an indication that the “lean season,” which usually starts in May, started earlier.
Kinzli said she received photos earlier Friday from colleagues on the ground of severely malnourished children in a displaced persons camp in Central Darfur, as well as elderly people “who have nothing left but skin and bones.”
“Recent reports from our partners indicate that 20 children have died from malnutrition in that IDP camp in recent weeks,” she said.
“People are resorting to consuming grass and peanut shells,” Kinzli said. “And if aid does not reach them quickly, we risk witnessing widespread famine and death in Darfur and other conflict-affected areas in Sudan.”
Kinzli called for “a concerted diplomatic effort by the international community to push the warring parties to provide access and security guarantees” for humanitarian personnel and convoys.
“One year of this devastating conflict in Sudan has created an unprecedented hunger catastrophe and threatens to unleash the world’s worst hunger crisis,” she warned. “With nearly 28 million people in Sudan, South Sudan and Chad facing food insecurity, the conflict is spreading and exacerbating the challenges we have already faced over the past year.”
In March, Sudanese authorities withdrew WFP’s permission to deliver aid to West Darfur and Central Darfur from the town of Adre from neighboring Chad, arguing that the crossing had been used to transfer weapons to the RSF. Kinzli said restrictions by Sudanese authorities in Port Sudan are also preventing WFP from transporting aid through Adre.
Sudanese authorities approved the delivery of aid from the Chadian town of Tina to North Darfur, but Kinzli said the WFP can no longer use that route for security reasons as it goes directly to besieged El Fasher.
On Thursday, gunmen killed two International Committee of the Red Cross drivers and injured three ICRC staffers in South Darfur. On Friday, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffith called the killing of aid organizations “unconscionable.”
Kinzli said the fighting “and endless bureaucratic hurdles” have prevented the WFP from providing aid to more than 700,000 people in Darfur ahead of the rainy season, when many roads become impassable.
“WFP currently has 8,000 tonnes of food supplies ready to transport to Chad, but is unable to do so due to these restrictions,” she said.
“WFP urgently needs unrestricted access and security guarantees to deliver assistance,” she said. “And we need to be able to use the Adre border crossing and move aid across the front lines from Port Sudan in the east to Darfur, so we can reach people in this desperate region.”
