ALBAWABA - The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) released a warning highlighting the dire situation in Sudan, saying that time is running out to prevent imminent famine in Darfur as fighting intensifies.
Civilians in El Fasher and the larger Darfur region are already suffering from severe hunger, but food assistance deliveries have been inconsistent owing to conflict and interminable regulatory obstacles.
The most recent escalation of violence near El Fasher has delayed relief convoys from Chad's Tine border crossing, a newly created humanitarian corridor that runs through North Darfur's capital.
Meanwhile, obstacles imposed by the government in Port Sudan prevent WFP from sending assistance via Adre, Chad's only other viable cross-border conduit.
The route can connect West Darfur with other parts of Central, South, and East Darfur. These access limits jeopardize WFP's efforts to offer critical assistance to nearly 700,000 people before the rainy season when many roads in Darfur become nearly impossible to use.
The recent increase in violence in El Fasher is increasing serious humanitarian needs in Darfur, where at least 1.7 million people are already facing emergency levels of famine
El Fasher has been a relative safe haven for families, with various IDP camps before the current crisis. However, conditions were already deteriorating, with reports of children dying from starvation.
Many people are being forced to flee El Fasher and the surrounding villages, some for the second or third time, and they are becoming increasingly vulnerable. On top of the consequences of the rising violence, WFP is concerned that hunger will increase dramatically once the lean season between harvests begins and people run out of food.
Michael Dunford, WFP’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa, said in the report that the WFP have never been more critical as the humanitarian situation deteriorates.
"WFP urgently requires unrestricted access and security guarantees to deliver assistance to the families struggling for survival amid devastating levels of violence. We must be able to use the Adre border crossing and move assistance across frontlines from Port Sudan so we can reach people throughout the Darfur region," Dunford stated.
Dunford also added that people are resorting to consuming grass and peanut shells. If assistance doesn't reach them soon, the of risk witnessing widespread starvation and death in Darfur and across other conflict-affected areas in Sudan is higher than ever.
