By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Food rations will be reduced for communities facing famine in Sudan from next month due to severe funding shortages, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
A war that erupted in 2023 between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has caused what the U.N. has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Communities in the Darfur region are facing famine and malnutrition following an 18-month RSF siege around the city of Al-Fashir.
“We will be having to reduce from January to 70% rations for communities that are facing famine, and 50% for those that are at risk of famine,” Ross Smith, the WFP Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response told reporters in Geneva, speaking via video link from Rome.
“As of April we will fall off a cliff when it comes to funding,” he added.
The U.N. estimates that more than 100,000 people have fled from al-Fashir since its capture by the RSF in late October, with about 15,000 arriving in Tawila, a small nearby town under the control of neutral forces.
The U.N. says 650,000 people are now sheltered there in total, with hundreds of thousands of refugees having fled there during previous fighting from Zam Zam camp in April.
While the WFP is able to provide food to people in Tawila, it requires $700 million to maintain its assistance over the next six months across Sudan.
WFP also raised concern that the humanitarian response was not able to keep pace with needs on the ground in Tawila due to logistical challenges such as negotiation approvals to move between areas as well funding challenges.
“These are families that have endured famine for many months on end and mass atrocities, and are now living in overcrowded conditions with very limited support,” Smith said, pointing to very limited available health services and people living in precarious shelters made of straw.
Both the army and RSF have been accused by human rights groups of war crimes, charges they deny.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; editing by Matthias Williams, William Maclean)
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