UN agency in Sudan faces 500 million shortfall for emergency response
Moatinoon
The UN agency in Sudan faces a 500 million shortfall to support emergency food and cash assistance for the next six months. The lack of international support has forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to reduce the amount and scope of relief it can distribute.
"Over the past six months, WFP has scaled up its assistance, and we are now reaching nearly one million Sudanese in Khartoum with food and nutrition support," said Laurent Bukera, WFP Country Director in Sudan. "This momentum must continue; many areas in the south are at risk of famine."
Bukera reported that a mission to Khartoum found many neighborhoods deserted, severely damaged, and resembling a "ghost town." He emphasized that the pressure on overstretched resources will only increase.
He explained that communities on the front lines are on the verge of collapse and are no longer able to support displaced families, given the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, which erupted in 2023.
Bukera stressed: "The international community must act now by increasing funding to stop famine in the worst-affected areas and invest in Sudans recovery." He added: "We must also demand respect for the safety and protection of the Sudanese people and aid workers."
More than two years of fighting have destroyed infrastructure, left communities without basic services, such as clean water, and contributed to a deadly cholera epidemic and reports of bodies rotting in the Nile River in Omdurman, one of the capitals three cities.
In an update issued last week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that war-related displacement and the spread of cholera continued to increase needs across the country. Sudan.
“We are deeply concerned, and meeting basic needs, especially food, is critical and urgent,” said Bukera, a WFP official. “Urgent action is needed to restore basic services and accelerate recovery through coordinated efforts with local authorities, national NGOs, UN agencies, and humanitarian partners.”
“Funding shortfalls are already hampering some of the assistance we provide in Khartoum, Blue Nile, Gezira, and Sennar states,” the senior WFP official added. “We have had to remove our food rations, oil, and pulses from the food basket due to resource constraints.”
He said that in Khartoum, life-saving nutritional supplements for young children and pregnant and lactating mothers have become “out of reach” due to resource constraints.
