Sudan’s Darfur: Cross-Border Aid Delivered From Chad, UN

February 27, 2024 Hour: 7:00 pm

The cross-border aid operation from Chad is a lifeline for people in Sudan’s Darfur region, said a UN spokesman on Monday.

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Since July 2023, humanitarian workers have been able to bring more than 8,700 metric tonnes of life-saving assistance across the border from Chad into Darfur. The United Nations and partners have reached more than 1.5 million people in Darfur, said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

If cross-border deliveries cannot continue, the humanitarian crisis in Darfur will only worsen.

“Already, almost 9 million people there need life-saving assistance, with more than 5 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity,” he said in response to a request for information about the Sudanese Armed Forces prohibiting cross-border humanitarian assistance through Chad.

“We do know there are a lot of challenges on Chad and on getting aid through,” said the spokesman, noting that “whether across the border or across conflict lines within Sudan, we need rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to be able to reach people in need, wherever they are.”

Millions of people in Sudan’s Darfur region are at risk of dying of hunger after a decision by the Sudanese government to prohibit aid deliveries through Chad, an advocacy group for internally displaced people said on Tuesday.

The order, a digital copy of which Reuters has…

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February 27, 2024

In its latest situation update, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said about 8.1 million people have fled their homes in Sudan since the outbreak of the military conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in mid-April 2023.

Of the displaced, about 6.3 million people were within Sudan and another 1.8 million people have fled to neighboring countries.

About 13,900 people have lost their lives in the conflict, according to UN figures.