The UN is enduring with its efforts to deliver food assistance to communities most at risk of famine in Sudan, particularly in West Darfur.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for secretary-general António Guterres, on Friday, said the World Food Programme (WFP) in Sudan on Friday dispatched trucks carrying 100 metric tonnes that crossed into Sudan through the Adre crossing on the Chad-Sudan border.
“As you will recall, this is the crossing our Deputy Secretary-General visited last week. In total, the WFP transported over 1,500 metric tonnes of vital food and nutrition supplies, enough for nearly 130,000 people since the crossing reopened on 20 August,” he stated. “Some of this assistance has already been delivered to Mornei in West Darfur – which is an area at famine risk– where over 22,000 people received emergency food rations and nearly 4,800 children and pregnant, as well as nursing women received nutritional supplements.”
Dujarric added: “The rest of the assistance is on its way to other communities in West Darfur that are also at risk of famine, and those are in the Kereneik and Sirba areas.”
He however said flooded and muddy roads have slowed the convoys’ progress as the peak of the rainy season approaches.
Turning to South Sudan, the spokesperson revealed that there were two allocations of money from the Central Emergency Response Fund on Friday.
“The first one is for South Sudan, which as you have seen, is facing massive floods impacting more than 700,000 people. Our Acting Emergency Relief Coordinator, Joyce Msuya, released $10 million to support our response there. Since May, floods have damaged homes, crops, and critical infrastructure. Education and health services have also been severely disrupted,” Dujarric explained. “Our partners report rising malaria cases, respiratory tract infections, acute watery diarrhea, and snakebites since the onset of the rainy season.”
He highlighted that the new funds will support life-saving assistance in the most affected counties that are home to some 900,000 people in need of emergency aid and this figure is likely to increase with the floods.
“The flooding compounds the already difficult humanitarian situation in the country,” he asserted. “In June, we and the Government of South Sudan launched a flood preparedness and response plan and for that, we are seeking $264 million to support 2.4 million human beings. That plan has yet to receive any funding.”