WFP: About 18 million people in Sudan face acute hunger

 

Nearly 18 million people in Sudan are facing acute hunger and nearly 5 million of them are in emergency levels of hunger; the highest number ever recorded during the harvest season.

Kampala: Altaghyeer

The World Food Program (WFP) issued the following report on the Sudan’s war-triggered food crisis:

Sudan is facing a rapidly deepening crisis as war rages across the country, with nearly 18 million people facing acute hunger.

Of these, nearly 5 million people are in emergency levels of hunger. This is the highest number ever recorded during the harvest season.

Over 75 percent of those in emergency are in areas where access is extremely limited due to heavy fighting and restrictions. Without assistance, there is a high risk they could slip into catastrophe.

Key drivers of food insecurity include intensified conflict and growing intercommunal violence, an economic crisis, soaring prices of food, fuel and essential goods, and below-average agricultural production.

Sudan also faces the worst displacement crisis in the world, with around 7.7 million people forced from their homes since conflict erupted in April 2023, according to the International Organization for Migration. WFP has delivered assistance to over 1.2 million people who have fled to neighbouring countries.

WFP has delivered life-saving food to over 5.2 million people inside Sudan since the start of the conflict and could reach many more, with humanitarian access constrained by the conflict. Funding shortfalls are also reducing the number of people we can support.

Conflict hotspots such as Khartoum, Darfurs and Kordofan remain mostly inaccessible. We have only managed to deliver assistance to greater Khartoum, where aid convoys could not get through between August and November.

WFP needs US$144 million from January–June 2024, to ensure that families can continue to access life-saving food assistance.

المصدر: صحيفة التغيير السودانية