Funding constraints and rising humanitarian needs could force the
World Food Programme (WFP) to halt assistance to more than a
million people in Chad, including newly arrived refugees from
Sudan, the UN agency said on Tuesday.
The warning comes as aid
agencies scramble to respond to a fresh wave of displacement
sparked by the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Darfur region
of Sudan, with reports of mass killings, rapes and widespread
destruction.
The crisis is occurring amid the ongoing war between the Sudanese
army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) which erupted in April.
Millions going hungry
More than 2.3 million people in Chad, including 1.3 million
children, were already going hungry due to climate impacts,
rising food and fuel prices, declining agricultural production
and intercommunal tensions.
The country is hosting more than a million refugees - among the
largest and fastest-growing refugee populations in Africa.
“It is staggering but more Darfuris have fled to Chad in the last
six months than in the preceding 20 years. We cannot let the
world stand and allow our life-saving operations grind to a halt
in Chad,” said Pierre Honnorat, WFP’s Country Director
in Chad.
Aid suspension imminent
Mr. Honnorat appealed for greater support to help Sudanese
refugees who “cross the border with nothing but harrowing tales
of violence.”
“Cutting assistance paves the way for crises of nutrition, crises
of instability, and crisis of displacement,” he warned.
WFP said it will be forced to suspend assistance to internally
displaced people and refugees from Nigeria, Central African
Republic and Cameroon starting in December.
The suspension will be extended in January to 1.4 million people
across the country, including new arrivals from Sudan.
The UN agency is seeking $185 million to support its operations
over the next six months.
