Dire predictions about escalating hunger in Sudan have tragically come true, as conflict-induced food scarcity has plunged 20.3 million people into severe acute hunger, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
Sudan
Conflict in Sudan has forced nearly four million people to flee their homes in a little over 100 days, the UN migration agency, IOM, has warned.
© UNMISS/Peter Bateman: South Sudanese refugees are returning home following unrest in Sudan.
For the first time since fighting broke out in Sudan on 15 April, humanitarians have been able to reach desperate families trapped in the conflict’s epicentre, Khartoum, with food assistance, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.
Hunger is set to worsen in 18 “hotspots” worldwide including Sudan, where fighting is putting people at risk of starvation, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a report published on Monday.
The UN and humanitarian partners are mobilizing to reach as many people as possible while the stuttering ceasefire between warring military factions is being respected, said the UN Spokesperson on Thursday.
© WFP/Mohamed Elamin | WFP warehouses in Port Sudan are being stocked with food commodities for emergency distribution.
With 860,000 people projected to flee the fighting in Sudan for neighbouring countries, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and partners on Thursday appealed for $445 million to assist the displaced through October.
UN News/Abdelmonem Makki. Khartoum, Sudan (file)