UN reports that individuals in Darfur are consuming 'grass and peanut shells' amidst a growing food emergency in the war-torn Sudan region.
In Sudan, conflict escalation in the eastern region has pushed people towards consuming "grass and peanut shells" as their last resort, the Regional Director for Eastern Africa of the World Food Programme (WFP), Michael Dunford, warned on Friday. Dunford cautions that if assistance doesn't reach those in need soon, widespread starvation and death may occur not only in Darfur but in other conflict-ridden areas in the country.
Centered around the war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, the civil unrest in Sudan has included numerous accounts of sexual violence, genocide, and civilian fatalities, creating a refugee crisis.
On Thursday, ICRC drivers were targeted in an attack in South Darfur, taking the lives of two drivers and injuring three others while transporting humanitarian aid. The incident occurred as the team was heading towards communities affected by armed violence.
A recent increase in violence leaves North Darfur's capital, El Fasher, as the last major city not taken by the RSF. Within this city and its surrounding areas, arbitrary killings, the burning of entire villages, and escalating air bombardments have been reported.
The UN Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Toby Hayward, has mentioned that El Fasher holds thousands of individuals displaced by war. According to the UN children's agency (UNICEF), at least 500,000 people who seek refuge in El Fasher were previously displaced due to violence elsewhere in Sudan.
Ongoing fighting around El Fasher forced more than 36,000 individuals to flee their homes in recent weeks, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.
Civilian fatalities in and around El Fasher have surpassed 43, as noted by UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell on Thursday. The results of assaults on over a dozen villages in western El Fasher have revealed gruesome reports including sexual violence, children harmed or killed, destroyed homes, and damaged civil supplies and infrastructures.
Food deliveries to Darfur have experienced disruptions because of the ensuing battles, hampering access for nearly 1.7 million people in the region who are currently facing emergency hunger, as per the World Food Programme.
The latest conflict development around El Fasher has halted aid convoys from entering through Chad's Tine border crossing, once a critical humanitarian route, passing through the region's capital, as the WFP mentions. Furthermore, restrictions imposed in the coastal town of Port Sudan have thwarted the transportation of relief supplies using Adré, a neighboring city in Chad.
In total, over 8.7 million people, with a significant focus on the 4.6 million children, have been displaced due to the war in Sudan, while a staggering 24.8 million require aid.
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Despite the ongoing crisis in Sudan, the World Food Programme (WFP) is working to distribute food aid to other regions in Africa affected by hunger.Widely reported human rights abuses and conflict in Sudan have led to a mass exodus of refugees seeking safety in neighboring countries in Africa.
Source: edition.cnn.com
