ADRI, Chad – Food aid to more than half a million refugees who fled Sudan to Chad will run out next month unless additional funding is available, a World Food Programme official said on Wednesday.
Pierre Onora, WFP country director for Chad, told Reuters: “By December there will be no aid. We are calling for very urgent funding now.”
More than 540,000 refugees have crossed the border from Sudan into Chad since war broke out seven months ago between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to the International Organization for Migration.
Many have fled West Darfur, where ethnically motivated violence and mass killings erupted again this month in the state capital, El Geneina, prompting thousands more to flee.
Reuters reported that between April and June this year, the RSF and allied Arab militias launched systematic attacks over weeks targeting the predominantly African Masalit tribe in El Geneina.
Those who arrived this year joined refugees and displaced people already in camps in Chad, with UNORA describing conditions as “very difficult”.
“Now it’s winter, but it’s still very hot. The nutrition problem is peaking.”
“We need a minimum of $25 million per month to help provide a daily meal to about 800,000 people we are trying to serve.”
The conflict in Sudan has also played a role in the spread of hunger within the country. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said on Wednesday it had distributed cereal seeds that could feed 13 million to 19 million people after agriculture was hit hard by the war.
More than 20 million of Sudan’s total population of 49 million face high levels of acute fuel insecurity, according to assessments by the United Nations, NGOs and other groups.
-Al-Yurae- (Reuters)
