Sudan on Tuesday promised to remedy the shortage in food aid caused by the halving of the cash-strapped World Food Programme’s (WFP) rations for displaced people in the strife-torn region of Darfur.
”The government of Sudan pledges to give 20 000 metric-tonnes of food aid to make up for the cuts in food rations,” Vice-President Ali Osman Taha told reporters.
He said the package should cover needs for the next three months, through the rainy season, which makes food deliveries in the remote western region of Darfur very difficult.
In late April, the United Nations food agency announced it was halving food rations in Sudan due to a cash shortage and urged donor countries to step up their contributions.
According to WFP spokesperson Antonia Paradela, only 46% of the $746-million needed to maintain the same level of food aid to Sudan have been paid.
Conflict erupted in Darfur in February 2003 when ethnic minority rebels complaining of marginalisation by Khartoum launched an uprising that was brutally repressed by the government and its Janjaweed militias.
The combined effect of war and famine has left up to 300 000 people dead and more than 2,4-million people displaced, in what has been described by the UN as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. — Sapa-AFP