The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warns that time is running out to prevent starvation in Darfur as intensifying clashes in North Darfur’s capital El Fasher hinder efforts to deliver vital food assistance into the region.

Civilians in El Fasher and the wider Darfur region are already facing devastating levels of hunger, yet deliveries of food assistance have been intermittent due to fighting and endless bureaucratic hurdles. The latest escalation of violence around El Fasher has halted aid convoys coming from Chad’s Tine border crossing – a recently opened humanitarian corridor that passes through North Darfur’s capital.

Meanwhile, restrictions from the authorities in Port Sudan are preventing WFP from transporting assistance via Adre, the only other viable cross-border corridor from Chad. The route can serve West Darfur and other locations in Central, South and East Darfur. These access constraints are jeopardizing WFP’s plans to provide vital assistance to over 700,000 people ahead of the rainy season when many roads across Darfur become impassable. 

“Our calls for humanitarian access to conflict hotspots in Sudan have never been more critical: WFP urgently requires unrestricted access and security guarantees to deliver assistance to the families struggling for survival amid devastating levels of violence. We must be able to use the Adre border crossing and move assistance across frontlines from Port Sudan so we can reach people throughout the Darfur region,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa. 

The recent surge in violence in El Fasher is exacerbating critical humanitarian needs in Darfur, where at least 1.7 million people are already experiencing emergency levels of hunger (IPC4). El Fasher had been a relative safe-haven for families, hosting many IDP camps that pre-date the current conflict. Yet conditions were already critical with reports of children dying of malnutrition.

Now many are being forced to flee El Fasher and surrounding areas – some for the second or third time – and are becoming increasingly vulnerable. On top of the impact of the escalating violence, WFP is concerned that hunger will increase dramatically as the lean season between harvests sets in and people run out of food.

“The situation is dire. People are resorting to consuming grass and peanut shells. If assistance doesn’t reach them soon, we risk witnessing widespread starvation and death in Darfur and across other conflict-affected areas in Sudan,” said Dunford.

Over the last six weeks, WFP has delivered emergency food and nutrition assistance to over 300,000 people in North, West, and Central Darfur using the Tine and Adre border crossings and a crossline route from Port Sudan. These breakthroughs followed lengthy negotiations. But the progress appears to have been short-lived with all routes now blocked. WFP and the rest of the humanitarian community needs to be able to deliver humanitarian assistance consistently and at scale to prevent a worsening of the crisis.  

One year of conflict in Sudan has created an unprecedented hunger catastrophe and threatens to ignite the world’s largest hunger crisis. With almost 28 million people facing acute food insecurity across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad, the conflict is spilling over and exacerbating the challenges already faced by its neighbours. The window to avert the worst is rapidly closing. A concerted diplomatic effort by the international community is needed to push the warring parties to provide access and safety guarantees and adhere to their obligations under International Humanitarian Law.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).

Over a year since the start of the war in Sudan, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, remains extremely concerned about shocking levels of violence and devastating humanitarian and protection risks as many areas across the country remain beyond the reach of aid organizations.

For the first time since the conflict started, a UNHCR team with Sudan’s Commissioner for Refugees and national aid agency, JASMAR for Human Security, reached Omdurman in Khartoum State, a city severely impacted by the conflict. UNHCR staff saw the massive destruction caused by the war, with vast needs and high levels of suffering among a population which has been out of reach to humanitarians for months.  

During the two-day mission to Omdurman, which hosts over 12,000 refugees and more than 54,000 internally displaced people, UNHCR met with local officials and people impacted by the conflict to identify needs and understand the protection risks. 

Displaced families, including Sudanese and refugees who were in Sudan before the war, told UNHCR of their struggles to get enough food due to soaring prices, leading to fears of children becoming malnourished. Children have no access to schools, or places to play, and they are distressed by the sounds of clashes. Displaced people do not have adequate shelter, with many living in overcrowded conditions in gathering sites located mainly in schools. While two hospitals remain open, there is not enough medicine, especially for those with chronic illnesses. Pregnant women are not able to access prenatal care. People also shared serious concerns for their safety, reporting increasing sexual violence as well as limited legal support. Many are severely traumatized.

UNHCR identified relevant national agencies, NGOs and other community groups on the ground to whom we could offer support and supplies. 

Beyond Khartoum State, escalating hostilities in Darfur’s El Fasher city are aggravating the already perilous protection situation for civilians. According to available reportsLink is external, tens of villages have been targeted, some razed to the ground, killing innocent people and destroying public property and crops. Indiscriminate violence, including sexual violence as well as cases of separated and missing children, are on the rise. Movement restrictions on key roads are preventing people from fleeing to safer areas, forcing them to shelter in severely overcrowded displacement sites or open spaces, adding to risks.

UNHCR continues to call for the safety of civilians, safe access for aid agencies so that support and supplies can be delivered and, above all, for a cessation of hostilities. Humanitarian partners also need more support to boost their capacity to respond.

UNHCR, alongside UN partners, remains in Sudan to support its people and continues to operate wherever it has safe access. In Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan State, we are working with local partners, refugee leaders and community-based protection networks to monitor needs and assist where we can. We are also present in Red Sea, Northern, White Nile, Blue Nile, Gedaref and Kassala states, which host hundreds of thousands of refugees already in the country prior the conflict.

Nearly 6.7 million people have been internally displaced in Sudan, and the situation remains dangerous and volatile. The over 920,000 refugees in Sudan, mainly from South Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia, include over 200,000 who have been displaced several times within the country since the start of the war.

A year on, thousands continue to leave Sudan daily in search of safety in neighbouring countries. To date, 1.8 million people have crossed into Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic.

As the humanitarian situation continues to worsen, financial resources needed to meet needs across Sudan and in neighbouring countries are dangerously insufficient. To date, only 10 per cent of the $2.6 billion required to reach over 18 million people with life-saving assistance within Sudan have been received, and only 8 per cent of the $1.4 billion financial requirements outlined in the 2024 Regional Refugee Response Plan for Sudan have been met.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a generous contribution of US$1.4 million from the Government of Iceland to provide nutritious meals to 36,000 school children in 167 public schools in Bum, Imperri, Kpanda Kemo, Sittia, Sogbeni and Yawbeko chiefdoms, Bonthe district. WFP in partnership with the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, will use this funding to strengthen the school feeding programme in Bonthe district by ensuring at least one food commodity in the food basket is sourced from local smallholder farmers. This will contribute to offering a reliable market to local smallholder farmers while simultaneously improving dietary diversity for school children.

“When farmers are linked to predictable markets this will incentivise them to produce more nutritious crops and increase their income,” says Yvonne Forsen, WFP Representative and Country Director in Sierra Leone. “We are grateful for the generous contribution and commitment of the people and Government of Iceland.”

In Bonthe district, WFP will implement a climate sensitive Home-Grown School Meals programme targeting 136 primary schools. This programme will support 38 women Farmer Based Organizations, offering training, agricultural inputs and market opportunities to 1,140 women.

With the Iceland funding, farmer-based organizations will be supported to cultivate and deliver fresh vegetables and orange fleshed sweet potato to the target schools. WFP will also include locally-sourced fish in the school meals menu once a week in eight schools, while 1,500 students will benefit from improved school infrastructure such as kitchens and storage.

To provide a sustainable source of fuel for cooking, WFP will establish woodlots at school, and provide fuel-efficient stoves to reduce firewood consumption and protect the health of the cooks.

“Our contribution will boost the Feed Salone initiative of the Government of Sierra Leone and enhance access and retention in schools for all children in Bonthe district to reach their full potential,” said Ásdís Bjarnadóttir, Head of Mission, Embassy of Iceland. “We are also excited about the programme introducing fish in school meals which will not only provide children with essential nutrients but has the potential to contribute to improving food security and build more resilient food systems”.

Overall, in Sierra Leone, WFP provides school meals to 238,000 pupils in five districts including 28,000 school children under the home-grown school meals programme. The Government of Sierra Leone has prioritized home-grown school feeding as a key component of its National School Feeding Policy, with considerable premium on its multi-faceted nature including linking school feeding activities to local food production and procurement that has the potential to induce social and economic development of communities.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).

The United Nations (H6) joint mission has concluded its visit to Liberia, highlighting the urgent need for action to combat the high burden of increasing maternal and new-born deaths in the country. The delegation revealed that 1,100 women and 8,510 new-borns die annually during childbirth in Liberia.

Dr. Anshu Banerjee, H6 Mission Team Lead – WHO’s Director of the Department of Maternal, New-born, Child, and Adolescent Health and Ageing in Geneva, emphasized the gravity of the situation, stating, “Eleven hundred women die every year in Liberia giving birth, and of course, no woman should be dying giving birth.“

The delegation expressed concerns over the increase in new-born mortality rates and the alarming number of stillbirths, attributing these tragedies to a lack of quality care during childbirth and antenatal care, among other factors.

Dr. Banerjee outlined specific targets to reduce maternal and new-born mortality, emphasizing the need to enhance access to healthcare services, reduce high out-of-pocket expenditure for health services, improve health infrastructure, and enact legal frameworks to address gender-based violence, female genital mutilation, child marriages, and teenage pregnancies, among other issues.

Speaking during a briefing session at the Executive Mansion with the H6 team and Heads of UN agencies of the H6 partnership, H.E. President Joseph Boakai, said the issues highlighted by the H6 Mission are of national importance in line with the ARREST agenda, “As a government, we are committed to making things turn around. We commit to being a responsible society that will look out for our women and children. It’s our challenge, and we have the manpower, commitment, and goodwill to ensure that we make this a record of the past.” Meanwhile. H.E. President Joseph Boakai has lauded the team for conducting such an important exercise.

In an earlier interaction, Liberian lawmakers acknowledged the severity of the crisis and pledged to collaborate with the executive branch to address it. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable J. Fonati Koffa reaffirmed the Legislature’s commitment to supporting the health sector, citing the recent substantial increase in the health budget as evidence of their dedication to building a resilient healthcare system.

Ms. Comfort Lamptey, UN RC ai, and UN Women Liberia Representative noted the need to ensure that the $80 million dollars allocated to the health sector in the national budget prioritises investments to reduce the high rates of maternal mortality.

Dr. Clement Peter, WHO Liberia Representative, added, “We need to translate these recommendations into workable actions for implementation in the next 6 years and ensure that these numbers are reduced to acceptable levels- this is doable if we will work together.“

Mr. Andy Brookes, UNICEF Representative in Liberia, emphasized, “This is not just about data and numbers; it is about real people’s lives. We came with a message of urgency, and the consensus around the table speaks of commitment.“

UNFPA Representative Bidisha Pillai commended the First Lady, in her role as Maternal and Newborn Health Champion, the Minister of Health, and the legislators for their commitment to reducing maternal, newborn, and child mortality. She stressed that the UN H6 partners will continue to support Liberia’s efforts to save lives and achieve the health-related national agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.

The H6 joint mission is committed to accelerating the reduction of maternal, new-born, and child deaths in Liberia. The mission has recommended specific interventions to reduce maternal deaths by 50 percent in four years, new-born deaths by 63 percent in five years, and stillbirths by 50 percent in five years.

The mission also emphasized the importance of inter-sectoral coordination and the linkages to the ARREST agenda, which focuses on Agriculture, Roads, Rule of Law, Education, Sanitation, and Tourism. The mission commended the increased budget allocation for health; however, stressed the need for timely disbursement and effective expenditure tracking, increased access to free education up to high school for all, particularly making the link between girls dropping out and teenage pregnancy, empowerment and meaningful engagement of adolescents and youth in policy making and implementation of youth-friendly services, and improvement of living conditions and infrastructure.

The H6 partnership remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting Liberia in achieving its healthcare goals and ensuring that no woman dies while giving life and that children should be born and live healthy lives and achieve their fullest potential.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Women – Africa.