WFP to contract Sudanese traders to distribute food to Darfur displaced

The residents of the Zam Zam camp for the displaced, south-west of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, have demanded the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reconsider its decision regarding the provision and distribution of food rations by traders. A camp resident told Radio Dabanga that the WFP notified them that in 2014 it would contract Sudanese traders to provide the displaced with food rations of millet, corn, sugar, oil, and salt. The residents, however, fear that the decision will reflect negatively on them “because the traders have no sufficient financial and logistic capabilities to provide such food rations. Epecially as most of the foodstuffs have to be imported from outside the state because the crop yields this year are limited.”   The source said that people are expecting much more displacements in the near future, after the Sudan government announced a large campaign to eliminate all armed rebel forces. The current number of displaced people at camp Zam Zam is 212,000, apart from the newly displaced who arrived in September.   File photo: A boy shows his three food ration cards given by the WFP in the North Darfur Kassab camp for the displaced (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related:Sudanese army planning ‘large operations’ against rebels: Minister (13 November 2013)Sudan’s Ministers announce ‘decisive campaign’ against armed movements (12 November 2013)