WFP cuts food aid amid escalating war and famine in Sudan

As the war in Sudan enters its third year and plunges the country deeper into famine, the World Food Program has been forced to cut food rations and scaled back humanitarian aid, Reuters reports. The organization has warned, on April 25^th, that aid for people facing severe food shortages will be undermined by the broader trend of donor states reducing humanitarian funding.

 To feed an estimated seven million people from May through to September, the United Nations appealed to donors for 800 million dollars. So far, it has reported a shortfall of a staggering 698 million dollars –a deficit that, it says, will be felt in the coming weeks.

 In areas at risk of famine, rations have already been reduced to 70 percent of the standard 2,100 kilocalories per day. The WFP warns that by May, stocks of essentials like cereals, pulses, and ready-to-use food will begin to run dry.

 “We are stressing the need to ensure funding flows at a very critical time” lamented the WFP’s Sudan country office emergency coordinator, Samantha Chattaraj to reporters in Geneva via video link from Port Sudan. “We are entering the rainy season and also the hunger season in Sudan, a time when conflict is escalating, and displacements are increasing.”

Sudan’s civil war broke out in April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the army and a rebel group turned paramilitary organization called the Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has since displaced millions and put 30 million Sudanese on the brink of starvation.

 The WFP is reportedly rallying support across the country including for some of the 450,000 people recently displaced from Zamzam camp in North Darfur after RSF forces took control earlier in April.

Despite the funding crisis, the organization still managed to reach over four million people in March, which is its highest monthly total since the war began. It is now able to better expand its outreach, having overcome bureaucratic barriers and insecurity, and aid trucks are expected within the next few days.