WFP suspends aid to Zamzam refugee camp in Sudan

The World Food Program (WFP) was forced to suspend food distribution in Sudan’s Zamzam Refugee Camp due to violent clashes between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

According to Middle East Monitor on February 28th, fighting in the Zamzam camp in North Darfur region, caused the distribution of life-saving food and nutrition assistance to displaced people to be temporarily stopped.

Leni Kinzli, spokesperson for WFP Sudan, said that if no immediate assistance is provided to replace the WFP’s provision, thousands of families in Zamzam may starve in the next few weeks. The refugee camp currently houses around half a million people.

In order to resume the safe and timely delivery of aid, saying “the fighting must stop, and humanitarian organisations must be granted security guarantees.”

Currently, over 2 million people across Sudan are experiencing or at risk of experiencing famine, Kinzli warned. The pause in food distribution came at an already turbulent time, after USAID cuts closed around 80% of emergency kitchens in Sudan.

Sudan has been engaged in an almost two-year civil war involving the Sudanese army and RSF, killing over 20,000 people and displacing 14 million.

Calls have been made by the international community and the UN to end the war, the conflict has been far-reaching, spreading to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states.

Middle East Monitor, Maghrebi, ABC News