More than 5 million Sudanese face “emergency” levels of hunger (Anatolia)
The spokesman for the General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugee Camps in the Sudanese Darfur region, Adam Rijal, said in a statement to Al Jazeera that the displaced people in Kalma camp are threatened with death from starvation due to lack of food.
Rijal explained that the situation is “tragic and disastrous” in the camp, which is located in the city of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, stressing the need for rapid intervention by regional and international humanitarian organizations to prevent the escalation of the disaster.
He pointed out that the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces caused the cessation of food rations provided by the World Food Program, as well as the cessation of marginal professions that provided the displaced with a limited income to cover some of their living obligations.
This warning comes after the World Food Program reported - on Friday - that it had already received reports of people dying of hunger in Sudan, stressing its current inability to provide food assistance on a regular basis except to one person out of every 10 people facing emergency levels of hunger.
The World Food Program called on both sides of the war in Sudan to provide immediate and urgent guarantees for the unhindered delivery of humanitarian food aid to areas affected by the conflict, where displaced civilians suffer from hunger, siege, and isolation that prevent the arrival of any life-saving aid.
Nearly 18 million people across Sudan suffer from acute hunger, and more than 5 million people face emergency levels of hunger in the areas most affected by the conflict.
Kalma camp is one of the largest camps crowded with displaced people, whose numbers increased after the outbreak of war in April 2023. It is located in the city of Nyala, which has been controlled by the Rapid Support Forces since late last October.
Source: Al Jazeera