Sudan War Triggers “World’s Biggest Food Crisis”
Cindy McCain of the World Food Program explains that most of the needy people are out of reach
Thousands of victims, the largest number of people in the world displaced due to famine. There is no peace in Sudan because of conflicts that have pitted the army and militias against each other for 11 months.
According to Cindy McCain, head of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), “the war in Sudan risks triggering the largest food crisis in the world.” At the end of the visit, she explained this by warning that “millions of lives are at stake, as well as the peace and stability of the entire region.”
In addition to direct casualties and the destruction of the socio-economic structure, the war forced entire communities to flee their homes. Today, the food security of more than 25 million people in Sudan and in two countries where people are fleeing war and famine, South Sudan and Chad, is at risk. Moreover, WFP is unable to provide adequate assistance due to violence and interference from belligerents. Currently, 90 percent of people facing extreme hunger in Sudan are stuck in areas largely inaccessible to the World Food Program. And the authorities’ withdrawal of authorizations for cross-border convoys forced WFP to halt operations from Chad to Darfur.
“Twenty years ago,” McCain continues, “Darfur had the largest food crisis in the world, and the world mobilized to respond. Today, however, the Sudanese people have been forgotten. Millions of lives, peace, and stability of the entire region are at stake.”