In Sudan, the World Food Program (WFP) had to interrupt its humanitarian activities in the town of Wad Madani, capital of Jezira state, to preserve the safety of its staff as fighting broke out there last week between Rapid Support Forces (FSR) of General Hemetti and the army of General Al-Burhane.
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The World Food Program (WFP) has suspended its humanitarian activities in the town of Wad Madani, capital of Jezira State. Other localities in this state are no longer accessible to the UN organization either. In this agricultural region, the war also poses a risk to all cereal production.
“ There is great panic among the people of the state. Everyone wants to escape. Farmers no longer have access to their farms. Jezira State is considered the breadbasket of Sudan. This state produces enough wheat for 6 million people every year », Notes Karim Abdelmoneim, in charge of emergency operations for the World Food Program in the country.
Half a million displaced
The bloody war which has pitted the Sudanese army against the RSF paramilitaries in Khartoum for eight months has pushed half a million people to seek refuge further south, in this agricultural state until recently spared from violence. But recently, the paramilitaries, who control the majority of the capital, have advanced along the highway which connects the capital to Wad Madani taking village after village and terrorizing their inhabitants.
On December 15, they attacked Wad Madani, forcing more than 300,000 people to flee again, within Al-Jazeera state but also to the neighboring states of Sennar and Gedaref, according to the ‘UN. Since then, the paramilitaries have continued their relentless descent towards the south. On Saturday, they were seen “ 15 kilometers north of Sennar », 140 kilometers south of Wad Madani, witnesses reported to AFP.
“ Nearly 18 million people in Sudan out of the country’s total population of 46 million are already identified as food insecure in recent months. If the fighting does not stop by the first quarter of next year, which is the cropping season for farmers, the situation will become even bleaker, continues Karim Abdelmoneim, in charge of emergency operations for the World Food Program in the country. It is also the harvest time for sorghum, which is also an essential resource in Sudan. If this harvest cannot continue, then people will still lose a very large amount of food. All agricultural production is in danger if the fighting does not stop. »
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