The General Coordination of Displaced Persons and Refugee Camps in Darfur has warned that the World Food Programme’s (WFP) reduction of assistance in Sudan due to funding shortages threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who depend on it to secure their basic food needs.
In a statement, the Coordination explained that the decision to reduce assistance comes amid mounting food security pressures caused by the war, displacement and the effects of drought on agricultural production. This is happening at a time when civilians, particularly displaced people, are experiencing a severe deterioration in their livelihoods and facing growing risks of hunger and malnutrition, making aid cuts a direct humanitarian threat to their lives.
Adam Rijal, spokesperson for the Coordination, said that reducing assistance under these circumstances would mean more than simply cutting the quantities of aid provided. It could deprive displaced families of essential meals and force them to adopt harsh coping strategies, including withdrawing children from school, reducing the number and size of meals, or selling their remaining possessions.
Such measures, he warned, would undermine families’ ability to withstand the crisis and make urgent international action necessary to prevent further humanitarian deterioration.
The Coordination called on donor countries and international institutions to close the funding gap swiftly to ensure the continued provision of food assistance and its delivery to those in need.
It also urged the expansion of the humanitarian response, the strengthening of nutrition and food security programmes, and the prioritisation of the areas most severely affected by the crisis.
