WFP cash support project ‘to target five North Darfur localities’, bombing in El Fasher continues

The Humanitarian Aid Commissioner in North Darfur, Abbas Yousef, yesterday announced that the cash support project of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) is targeting five localities in the state. The fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for control over the North Darfur capital of El Fasher continues.

In a press statement following a meeting with Mohamed Saleh, the director of the WFP El Fasher Office, Yousef said that the targeted localities are El Fasher, Um Keddada, Mellit, El Laeet, and Tawila. The areas are inaccessible for humanitarian aid deliveries, according to the organisation’s estimates.

The other localities in the state, less prone to battles between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), receive direct food distribution.

The WFP published an announcement in Arabic about the start of online registration for cash assistance in North and South Darfur, and South and West Kordofan.

Online registration

The North Darfur representative of the governmental Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC) further explained that the registration for the cash support project for the families in need must be done electronically.

“Registration requires having a a smartphone, a ‘national number, an account number of the Bank of Khartoum and its Bankak app as the financial support is submitted directly without any intermediary.

“The support will include all categories of people in need. The registered beneficiaries will be checked through location updates using GPS systems,” he said and added that the deadline for registration will end on February 20.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in October last year projected that famine would expand between December 2024 and May 2025 in North Darfur including Um Keddada, Mellit, El Fasher, El Taweisha, and El Laeet.

People living in areas under RSF control are forced to use the expensive satellite network Starlink as they are often witnessing a disruption of communications and internet networks.

El Fasher

Since Saturday, El Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, has witnessed a halt to direct fighting on the ground, while heavy aerial bombardment by the SAF and artillery shelling and drone attacks by the RSF continued.

The command of the Sixth Infantry Division in the beleaguered city said in its daily report on social media yesterday that it launched a series of airstrikes on RSF bases.

It accused the RSF of shelling various parts of the city with Katyusha rockets, which resulted in minor injuries to a few residents.

The command added that on Friday, five people were killed in an RSF attack on Salouma, west of Zamzam camp that lies south of El Fasher, before army troops could repel the attack.

Minni Minawi, governor of the Darfur region and head of a Sudan Liberation Movement breakaway faction, described the RSF attacks on El Fasher and the surrounding camps for displaced people as an “selective-style genocide” on his Facebook page on Sunday.

“We will not allow them to take over the city and we will continue on our way to liberate the rest of the towns in the region,” he added.