World Food Programme to reduce food support in Sudan due to funding cuts

The World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday it is facing a funding shortfall that could affect its ability to support people facing acute food shortages in Sudan within weeks as donor states reduce humanitarian funding.

The UN agency said it has a shortfall in funding of $698m (R13.04bn) out of the nearly $800m (R14.95bn) it had asked for from donors to help 7-million people from May through to September.

There will be shortages of items, such as cereals, pulses and ready-to-use food from May as it is confronted with a broader trend of global donor states reducing humanitarian funding, the organisation warned.

Rations in areas at risk of famine have been reduced to 70% of a standard WFP ration (equal to 2100kcal per day), the organisation said.

"We are stressing the need to ensure funding flows at a very critical time where we are entering the rainy season and also the hunger season in Sudan, and at a time when conflict is escalating and displacements are increasing," Samantha Chattaraj, the WFP’s Sudan country office emergency coordinator told reporters in Geneva via video link from Port Sudan.

The war in Sudan erupted in April 2023, sparked by a power struggle between the army and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The conflict has since displaced millions.

The WFP said it is mobilising support across the country, including to some of the 450,000 people displaced from Sudan's Zamzam camp in North Darfur after it was taken over by the RSF earlier this month.

The organisation said it had assisted 4-million people across Sudan in March — the highest monthly figure since conflict began — and is now able to reach more areas, after overcoming bureaucratic challenges and insecurity.

More aid trucks are expected to arrive in the next few days, it said.