World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday said that its food trucks arrived in North Darfur’s Zamzam camp last Friday, where famine was confirmed earlier this year, marking the first delivery in a long time.
"These are the first WFP food items that we have been able to transport into the camp in many months, carrying emergency food aid for 12,500 people," UN food agency’s spokesperson Leni Kinzli told a UN press briefing in Geneva.
"While the amount of aid on this convoy is just a drop in the ocean compared to the need, these trucks are delivering hope to people in Zamzam who have been battling famine on their own, cut off from aid for many months," Kinzli said.
She noted that more than 700 trucks carrying WFP food aid are currently en route to communities across Sudan.
Calls for safe passage of aid
"This includes to 14 areas that either face famine or are at risk of famine and is part of a scale-up effort to reach millions of people in the country’s most needy and isolated conflict areas," she said.
"In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tonnes of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month."
She urged all parties to the conflict, militias and armed groups or tribes, to allow these convoys to pass safely, underlining the importance of safe passage and unfettered access to halt famine in Zamzam and prevent it from spreading to other areas.
According to the spokesperson, since September, WFP has delivered food assistance to an average of 2 million people each month across Sudan.
Thousands killed in war
Since mid-April last year, the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been engaged in a conflict that has resulted in more than 20,000 deaths and displaced nearly 10 million people, according to the UN.
There have been growing calls from the UN and international bodies to end the conflict, as the war has pushed millions of Sudanese to the brink of famine and death due to food shortages, with the fighting spreading to 13 of Sudan's 18 states.
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