General Assembly President urges collective action on Sudan as crisis deepens

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General Assembly President urges collective action on Sudan as crisis deepens

He was speaking at an Assembly meeting convened following the use of veto by Russia at the Security Council earlier this month.

© WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei

A WFP humanitarian convoy heads from Port Sudan to deliver lifesaving food aid to conflict-affected communities.

UN humanitarian efforts

Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that aid efforts continue despite immense challenges.

The World Food Programme (WFP) is delivering crucial supplies to Zamzam camp in North Darfur, where famine was declared nearly four months ago. A convoy arrived last Friday with vital food assistance, after entering Sudan via the Adre border crossing.

A second convoy en route to Zamzam from Port Sudan has travelled 1,400 kilometres (about 870 miles) over two weeks, facing rough terrain, armed checkpoints, and conflict zones.

“It is now 300 kilometres away from Zamzam. The last part of this dangerous and long journey is the most risky and unsafe,” UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told journalists at the regular news briefing at UN Headquarters, in New York.

Eating peanut shells to survive

“Families at Zamzam have been resorting to extreme measures to survive because food is so scarce. They are eating crushed peanut shells that are typically used to feed animals – and across the camp, parents are mourning the deaths of malnourished children,” Mr. Haq added.

Moreover, another WFP convoy has been on its way to Kadugli and Dilling in South Kordofan from Port Sudan for two weeks.

Mr. Haq said that the trucks will be departing Kosti in White Nile state in the coming days for the final leg of the journey to locations in South Kordofan that have received little or no assistance since the start of the war in April 2023.

Similarly, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has sent additional reproductive health and protection supplies to Kassala and Gedaref, where people fleeing the fighting in Al Jazirah state (also spelled Gezira) have been arriving.

These supplies will support safe births and the clinical management of rape and are sufficient to meet the needs of 240,000 women and girls for three months.

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