FEWS NET: ‘Sorghum, millet, and wheat’ lifelines for Sudan’s food insecure

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) stresses the importance of particular staple food during the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces that broke out on April 15. Warehouses of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in El Obeid, capital on North Kordofan, were plundered on Thursday.

FEWS NET states in its latest Sudan Price Bulletin that staple food such as sorghum, millet, and wheat have been mainstays in Sudan. They illustrate the fluctuating regional price of foodstuffs across Sudan over recent years, showing how these changes in price are indictive of Sudan’s growing food insecurity.

The ongoing fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces leaves millions of people facing critical shortages of food, water, and basic supplies, in particular in Darfur.

Before the war erupted on April 15, Darfur already hosted large number of displaced and acutely food insecure people, many of them in camps bear towns and cities. The current war, as well as poor macroeconomic conditions and intercommunal conflicts have only further compounded economic downturn in the region.

‘Unconscionable’

The WFP reported that its warehouses in El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, were looted on Thursday.

In a statement on social media, WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain strongly condemned the theft of WFP food and assets from the organisation’s largest logistic bases in Africa – which form a vital lifeline to millions across Sudan and South Sudan.

“Food for 4.4 million people is at stake. It is unconscionable to steal from the hungry. This must stop,” McCain said.