Crowds lined the road as a World Food Programme (WFP) trucks convoy reached North Darfur’s Zamzam camp last Friday (22 November), carrying enough food for 12,500 people. Another convoy is now less than 200km from Zamzam, after travelling 1,400km from Port Sudan, braving rough terrain, armed checkpoints and conflict lines to take food to people facing famine.
“The convoys are delivering food to people who have been cut off from aid for many months, battling famine on their own,” said Leni Kinzli, WFP’s spokesperson in Sudan. “This last leg of the journey is the most risky and unsafe for the trucks.”
A total of 700 vehicles will distribute food to isolated locations around Sudan, including 14 where famine conditions have either been confirmed or pose a threat.
They are carrying 17,500 tons, enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month.
Sudan accounts for half the world’s population facing IPC5 – catastrophe-level hunger on the Integrated Food Phase Classification, the global standard for measuring food insecurity. An estimated 4.7 million children aged under-5, as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, are suffering from acute malnutrition.
“This relief comes not a minute too soon, and we must follow it with sustained international support or people will die of hunger,” said Kinzli.
Since September, WFP has delivered food assistance to an average of 2 million people each month across Sudan, with more expected to be served on a monthly basis by this latest surge effort.
Last Friday’s convoy was the first to reach the camp since famine was confirmed in August. Fighting around North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, and roads made impassable by the June-to-September rainy season, had all but cut off access to the camp.
“There is a great deal of suffering here,” said Nour Abdallah, 40, a resident of Zamzam camp, pointing to a bowl of ombaz, the Sudanese name for paste left over from crushing peanut shells to extract their oil.
“Most people, if not all people, here are eating this,” he added, noting that ombaz is usually used to feed livestock. “We are starving.”
Meanwhile, myriad checkpoints, militias, and armed and desperate communities along the way pose serious safety risks for the WFP trucks.
“While the aid in the first convoy (from the Adre crossing in Chad) was just a drop in the ocean compared to the needs, these trucks (from Port Sudan) are opening the door to expand access,” said Kinzli.
“We see that these corridors work – now it needs to become the norm for aid trucks to be on them, rather than the exception.”
With access severely constrained in recent months, WFP has found other ways to get urgent aid into the hands of people in Zamzam. We have sourced food for the families in the camp from local traders – and supported around 100,000 people since September.
“The team in Sudan is working around the clock to ensure families receive the life-saving food they need to survive,” said Laurent Bukera, WFP’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa. “These trucks carry more than just food; they carry a lifeline for people caught in the crossfire of conflict and hunger. We need guaranteed safe passage for our trucks and sustained international support to reach every at-risk family.”
Kinzli added: “We desperately need this to succeed to turn the tide of famine in one of the world’s worst hunger crises.”
In the past year, WFP has reached 7.5 million people in Sudan and aims to support over 8 million of the most acutely hungry people by the end of 2024.
WFP welcomed the Sudanese authorities’ recent decision to extend the opening of the critical Adre border crossing from Chad into Darfur for three months.
WFP reiterates its call for all border crossings into Sudan and all routes across conflict frontlines within the country to remain open and fully operational, so that life-saving aid can reach people in urgent need.
On a recent visit to Port Sudan, WFP’s Executive Director, Cindy McCain, stressed the need for consistent and secure access to prevent the spread of famine and address an emergency that threatens to become one of the worst hunger crises in recent history.
