Geneva - Khartoum: Europe and the Arabs
More than 20.3 million people in Sudan, at least 42% of the population, suffer from high levels of acute food insecurity, i.e. severe hunger. According to the United Nations news bulletin, a copy of which we received on Saturday morning
The United Nations reported that Sudan faces one of the world's largest food insecurity cases, in light of the continuing conflict and economic decline.
Adam Yao, representative of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Sudan, warned of the seriousness of the situation and said that families are facing unimaginable suffering.
Through a communication circle from Port Sudan, Yao briefed reporters at the UN headquarters in Geneva on the situation. He said that the number of people projected to be food insecure between July and September would almost double compared to the number projected by the Integrated Food Security Analysis conducted in May.
The UN official added that about 14 million people in Sudan are facing what he described as "crisis" levels of hunger, and that approximately 6.2 million people are facing emergency levels of acute hunger.
The states most affected are those where the conflict is intense, including Khartoum, South and West Kordofan as well as Central, East, South and West Darfur.
The FAO stated that critical infrastructure, including health care facilities, energy sources and communications, had suffered significant damage, exacerbating food insecurity.
Adi Rowe, director of the World Food Program in Sudan, expressed the same concerns, saying that the bleak expectations become a reality after nearly 4 months of the outbreak of the conflict, and that hunger will increase, affecting more than 19 million people.
The UN official spoke about the difficult work environment in Sudan and the complexity of the ability to reach those in need of life-saving assistance.
In a positive development, the World Food Program said that it was able, last week, for the first time, to deliver food aid to West Darfur state.
A convoy of 5 trucks carrying 125 metric tons of food commodities traveled from eastern Chad to western Darfur, where WFP was able to provide assistance to about 15,400 people in 3 villages.
The Program Officer in Sudan expressed the hope that the road from Chad would become a regular humanitarian corridor to reach families in West Darfur, especially in El Geneina, the state capital, and also to Zalingei in Central Darfur, where people's lives are shattered by violence.
The representative of the FAO in Sudan said that the organization was able to purchase more than 8,800 tons of grain and okra seeds, despite the complex security situation, and deliver them to more than 500,000 farming families across Sudan.
FAO plans to reach one million farmers during the planting season, to allow enough grain to be produced to cover the needs of 19 million people for a year.
Yao said that FAO has become the first UN agency to reach West Kordofan and East Darfur since the start of the conflict, and that it has been able to distribute seeds to farmers through its local partners.
He explained that this achievement facilitated access to North and South Darfur, allowing FAO to expand its assistance to vulnerable communities.
He said that the success of this campaign is a reminder of the importance of agriculture as an affordable, frontline humanitarian intervention to enhance food and nutrition security and reduce vulnerability factors.