By Anjali Sharma
UNITED NATIONS – UN agencies has reported on Friday that lifesaving efforts by UN humanitarians and partners to distribute food and agricultural aid in Sudan reached millions last year, but needs are only growing.
World Food Programme provided lifesaving assistance to 7.8 million people, and the UNICEF reached 3 million children with essential nutrition support.
The agency said that this was done in the face of an escalating crisis resulted from the brutal war between rival militaries which erupted in April 2023 between the forces of the military Government and the so-called Rapid Support Forces militia.
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that over 25.6 million people remain acutely food insecure.
Disruptions to agriculture caused by conflict, mass displacement, heavy rainfall, floods and limited financing have crippled food production for a second consecutive year, OCHA added.
Famine has spread to five regions according to WFP, leaving some 755,000 people on the brink of starvation, it reported.
UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told correspondents in New York that as the conflict rages on, “families and communities trapped in the middle of it and in hard-to-reach areas are continuing to bear the brunt of the violence and the suffering.”
He said the lack of access to sufficient food and basic services in these hard-to-reach areas inside Sudan is likely to swell while “the risk of destitution and death increases.”
Immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access is essential, for the UN and aid partners to deliver the assistance required.
UNICEF said ongoing fighting has displaced around five million children.
The aid workers have scaled-up efforts under the Famine Prevention Plan launched in April 2024.
UN agencies have reported challenges in access and resource shortages persists .
The world body has urgently called for international support to prevent further catastrophe.
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