Massive UN food convoy en route to Sudan

Vehicles carrying food for up to 1.5 million people are heading to 14 severely deprived areas, a spokesperson has said

More than 700 trucks carrying food aid have been sent to famine-hit regions of Sudan, the UN World Food Program announced on Tuesday.

Sudan’s Sovereign Council leader, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, confirmed on Monday that the airports in El Obeid, Kadugli, and Damazine would function as humanitarian hubs. The locations, previously inaccessible due the current armed conflict, will now facilitate aid distribution for UN agencies, according to officials.

“In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tons of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month,” WFP Sudan spokesperson Leni Kinzli said at a press briefing in Geneva. The aid convoy will go to 14 areas struck by famine or at risk of famine, she added.

“We’ve received around 700 clearances from the government in Sudan, from the Humanitarian Aid Commission, to start to move and transport assistance to some of these hard-to-reach areas,” the UN spokesperson noted.

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Last week, humanitarian relief reached Zamzam camp in North Darfur, marking a significant breakthrough for an area that had not received aid in months. While the supplies represent only a fraction of what is needed, Kinzli emphasized that “these trucks are delivering hope” to those cut off from assistance for months.

Since September, the UN World Food Program has reached an average of 2 million people per month across Sudan. However, the crisis remains severe, and the UN has described the situation as one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies.

The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began in April 2023, has spread to 13 of Sudan’s 18 states, and left 26 million people in acute hunger, according to UN estimates. On Friday, the UN reported that vulnerable groups, including 4.7 million children aged under five and pregnant or breastfeeding women, are experiencing acute malnutrition.  

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In August, Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, called the situation “an absolute catastrophe.”