A starving camp of about 500,000 people in Sudan has received its first aid in months.
United Nations trucks poured into Zamzam – home to crowds forced to flee during Sudan’s 18-month civil war – on Friday.
The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) said food deliveries had been hampered for months by intense fighting in the nearby Darfur town of el-Fasher, as well as “impassable” roads caused by the rainy season.
The war – a power struggle between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) – has created the world’s worst disaster, forcing 10 million people from their homes and driving hungry communities.
The population of Zamzam has reportedly increased since April, when the RSF began fighting to take el-Fasher from the army. El-Fasher is the only town still under military control in the western region of Darfur.
In August, an independent group of food safety experts determined that the war had driven Zamzam into starvation mode.
The criteria for classifying an area that will die of hunger is that at least 20 percent of families must face extreme food insecurity, while 30% of children are malnourished and two out of 10,000 people die every day from hunger or malnutrition and disease. .
The food convoy to Zamzam is part of a major expansion of WFP’s efforts to reach those “in troubled and isolated areas,” the organization said.
A total of three trucks and more than 700 trucks were sent, enough to feed 1.5 million people for more than a month, the statement said.
Some of the food aid is also heading to the province of South Kordofan.
“These trucks carry more than just food;
“We need guaranteed safe passage for our trucks and continued international support to reach all vulnerable families,” said Laurent Bukera, WFP’s director for the East Africa region.
The warring parties have been accused of blocking and looting aid, but both deny the allegations.
The convoy that arrived at the Zamzam camp on Friday left Adré on the border with Chad on November 9 – an important route for the delivery of aid to Darfur.
The tunnel was closed by order of the military-run government in February and reopened for three months in August.
Members of the government protested the opening of the incident, saying it allowed the RSF to bring in weapons, Reuters news agency reported.
Last week, the government agreed to stay open for another three months.
The second WFP aid convoy left the military base in Port Sudan, Sudan’s only port, ten days ago and is also heading to Zamzamp camp in the west.
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