Stéphane Dujarric said in New York on Wednesday that WFP trucks were carrying sorghum, pulses, oil and rice that will benefit some 13,000 people who are at risk of famine in the Kereneik area of West Darfur.
“For its part, IOM says the essential relief items delivered to Sudan will support more than 12,000 people in need,” he added.
Dujarric reiterated, “the Adre crossing from Chad is the most effective and the most direct way for us to deliver humanitarian assistance to Sudan at a scale and speed required to respond to the huge hunger crisis in the country.”
The World Food Programme trucks can cross into Darfur from Adre and then reach key distribution points in the very same day – basically, in one day, he added.
Dujarric went on: “In the meantime, our humanitarian colleagues continue to engage with the Sudanese authorities to facilitate additional trucks coming in the coming days and months.”
“We will need a constant supply of humanitarian goods. It is critical to sustain that flow of food and nutrition assistance into and across Sudan, where more than a dozen areas are either at risk of or in famine,” he added.
Dujarric concluded: “WFP is scaling up food assistance there and aims to support more than 8 million men, women and children by the end of this calendar year.”
After 14 months of intensifying conflict, Sudan is now facing the world’s most severe hunger crisis. Recent data from the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) reveals that the food security situation in Sudan has rapidly worsened, with 755,000 people now living in catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5), facing a risk of famine in 14 areas.
The worst conditions are found in regions hardest hit by conflict and where displaced populations have gathered. In total, 25.6 million people are experiencing severe hunger (IPC Phase 3+), meaning half of Sudan’s war-torn population is struggling daily to find enough food for themselves and their families.
This marks the first time that Sudan has reached catastrophic levels (IPC Phase 5) since the IPC was established in 2004. Unlike the localized crisis in Darfur two decades ago, the current hunger crisis spans the entire country, affecting even the capital, Khartoum, and Gezira State, once known as Sudan’s breadbasket.
The latest figures show a sharp deterioration compared to the projections from December 2023, which reported 17.7 million people facing acute hunger (IPC Phase 3+), including nearly 5 million in emergency levels (IPC Phase 4). Now, 8.5 million people are projected to be at emergency levels of hunger.
Earlier the FAO Director-General QU Dongyu stated, “The IPC analysis reveals a deepening and rapid deterioration of the food security situation in Sudan, with millions of lives at risk. We are now delivering life-saving seeds for the main planting season.
“The clock is ticking for Sudan’s farmers. FAO urgently requires USD 60 million to fund its Famine Prevention Plan and ensure that people, especially those in inaccessible areas, can produce food locally and avert food shortages in the next six months. We must act collectively, at scale, with unimpeded access, for the sake of millions of innocent lives hanging in the balance.”
WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain emphasized, “WFP’s team in Sudan is working tirelessly in dangerous conditions to deliver life-saving assistance, but these numbers confirm that time is fast running out to prevent famine. For every person we have reached this year, another eight are in desperate need of help.
“We urgently need a massive expansion of humanitarian access and funding to scale up our relief operations and prevent Sudan’s slide into a humanitarian catastrophe that could destabilize the wider region.”
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell added, “The latest snapshot illustrates the devastating impact the conflict in Sudan is having on the country’s children.
“Hunger and malnutrition are spreading at alarming rates, and without concerted international action and funding, there is a very real danger that the situation will spiral completely out of control. There is no time to lose. Any delay in gaining unfettered access to vulnerable populations will result in the loss of children’s lives.”