Sudan: UN World Food Program warns of crisis across region

The ongoing violence in Sudan could plunge the entire East African region into a humanitarian crisis outside the country. “A third of the country’s population was starving before the fighting broke out, now everything is in short supply and food prices are skyrocketing,” said the director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Germany, Martin Frick. German press agency. Similar price increases are also occurring in neighboring Chad and South Sudan.

Both countries have taken in thousands of refugees since the fighting in Sudan began. “In South Sudan, which is sinking into floods due to the climate and drying up elsewhere, food prices have risen by 28 percent in a very short period of time,” says Frick. Added to this is the tense situation in the Horn of Africa, where after six failed rainy seasons, the emergency is also at a record level.

In Sudan, de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been fighting against his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo since April 15 with the help of the army. He is the leader of the influential paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two generals had taken over the leadership of the country of about 46 million inhabitants through two joint military coups in 2019 and 2021.

WFP has had to suspend its aid to 7.6 million people in Sudan as a result of the fighting. According to Frick, refugees who have found shelter in Sudan, pregnant women or malnourished children would have nothing without the support of WFP. Aid should be resumed as soon as the security situation allows. (aeg/sda/dpa)