EU Provides Further €17 Million To Help Sudan's Most Vulnerable In The Lean Season
KHARTOUM – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed another generous contribution towards its operations in Sudan from the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO).
The €17 million (US$22 million) contribution will support WFP’s activities in several regions of Sudan, especially in conflict-affected Darfur and the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan.
“We are in the thick of the ‘lean season’, when households have very limited access to food before the next harvest in October. This ECHO contribution is extremely timely because it will help us reach the significantly increased numbers of people who depend on our support,” said WFP Sudan Country Director Adnan Khan.
“Most of those in need are in Darfur, where we will provide life-saving food assistance to some 2.9 million conflict-affected people, at least half of whom are displaced. We will also be giving nutritious supplementary food to more than 180,000 malnourished children, pregnant and nursing mothers among them,” Khan added.
The prolonged armed conflict, now in its 10th year, has caused humanitarian needs in Darfur to remain alarmingly high. Accordingly, WFP’s operations have increased, thanks to the commitment and consistent generosity of donors. Among these, the European Commission is one of the largest supporters, having provided more than €500 million to WFP’s operations in Sudan over the last decade.
The ECHO contribution will also support WFP’s nutrition programme in Kassala and the Red Sea state in eastern Sudan. The programme aims to treat malnutrition threatening 33,000 children under the age of five, and pregnant and nursing mothers. Also in Kassala state, some 35,000 newly-arrived refugees from neighbouring Eritrea will be assisted with a monthly food ration.
In the conflict-affected states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, WFP will provide some 307,000 vulnerable people with food assistance, adding nutritious supplementary food for about 16,000 malnourished young children, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers.
Sudan remains one of WFP’s largest and most complex operations, providing food assistance to at least 3.9 million people affected by conflict, displacement and chronic under-nourishment.
________________________________
For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):
Amor Almagro,WFP/Khartoum, Tel. +249 91 200 2114, Mob. +249 91 217 48 53
Emilia Casella, WFP/Rome, Tel. +39 06 6513 3854, Mob. +39 347 9450634
Gregory Barrow, WFP/London, Tel. +44 20 72409001, Mob. +44 7968 008474
Elisabeth Byrs, WFP/Geneva, Tel. +41 22 917 8564, Mob. +41 79 473 4570
Bettina Luescher, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-5566909, Mob. +1-646-8241112
