The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) has temporarily halted food aid in parts of Sudan’s central Gezira state following the capture of Wad Madani city by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The RSF’s takeover has turned the city into a battleground, forcing an estimated 300,000 people to flee the fighting since last Friday. WFP had been providing food aid to 800,000 people in Gezira and those displaced by the conflict in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. The suspension of food deliveries comes at a critical time when the affected population is in urgent need of assistance.
The head of the World Food Programme in Sudan, Eddie Rowe, expressed concern over the transformation of a place of refuge into a battlefield, emphasising the toll it has taken on civilians.
The suspension by the World Food Programme raises fears that the spillover of the fighting into Gezira could exacerbate Sudan’s humanitarian crisis.