Food shortage in Darfur camps

Refugees across the province complain of insufficient supplyRefugees from various camps across North, South and West Darfur complained on Thursday about acute food shortage.In West Darfur’s Zalingei camps, refugees said they were facing severe food shortage because of reduced food rations.A displaced person in the camp told Radio Dabanga that the higher cost of food and shortage of food rations is leading to homelessness, begging and child labor. All family members have begun looking for work.The coordinator of the Zalingei camps told Radio Dabanga, “Since refugees don’t have a livelihood, the lack of food rations has led to serious health and social problems. The World Food Program (WFP) should go back on its decision to supply food through traders.”The refugees had expressed their discontent previously with traders in the region supplying them food rations provided by the WFP.Food rations delayed in KalmaThe humanitarian coordinator of Kalma camps in South Darfur complained of a two-month delay in receiving food rations from the WFP.He told Radio Dabanga, “The delay in food rations has led to the spread of diseases and malnutrition among children and pregnant women.” The coordinator suspected that the delay in food rations was due to the refugees’ unresponsiveness to the WFP’s re-registration proposal.The WFP had proposed a re-registration plan for the camp residents in order to issue new identity cards in October.The coordinator demanded an explanation from the WFP for the delay in food distribution and said that the displaced had no other choice but to depend on food rations.Refugees pay for food rations in GarsilaIn West Darfur’s Garsila camps, severe food shortage and delays in receiving rations from the WFP led to refugees working outside the camps for a meagerly amount of less than five Sudanese pounds a day.A leader in the camps told Radio Dabanga that no reasons were provided to the refugees regarding the delay in receiving food rations.