Food aid convoy arrives in refugee camp in Sudan's North Darfur State

Port Sudan, Nov 23 (IANS) The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has announced the arrival of the first aid convoy since August to Zamzam refugee camp in North Darfur State in western Sudan.

"The first food aid convoy arrived in North Darfur's Zamzam camp on Friday, while further convoys remain on route to other hard-to-reach areas," the WFP said in a statement.

"The convoy that arrived in North Darfur's Zamzam is the first to arrive at the camp since famine was confirmed in August," it said.

According to the statement, more than 700 trucks carrying WFP food aid are on route to communities across Sudan, including 14 locations that WFP categorizes as "hotspots" due to the severity of food insecurity and famine risk in those areas.

"In total, the trucks will carry about 17,500 tonnes of food assistance, enough to feed 1.5 million people for one month," the WFP said, noting that, since September, it has delivered food assistance to an average of two million people each month across Sudan.

Sudan now holds half of the world's population facing "catastrophic hunger," or IPC5, the highest phase of the Acute Food Insecurity scale, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, Xinhua news agency reported.

Recently, the Sudanese government announced that 28.9 million people in the country need humanitarian assistance due to the ongoing conflict.

Sudan has been gripped by a devastating conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces since mid-April 2023. According to the November update by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, the deadly conflict has resulted in more than 27,120 deaths.

Additionally, the conflict has displaced over 14 million people, both within Sudan and across its borders, according to the latest estimates by the International Organization for Migration.

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