US contributes $95m in food assistance in Sudan

The United States has contributed $95m in emergency food assistance in Sudan during 2017, the American embassy in Khartoum stated in a press release.

This assistance has been provided through the World Food Program (WFP) and other partners, according to the statement published on the embassy’s official website.

This assistance helps to feed more than 2.5 million people in Sudan annually, internally displaced persons, refugees, host communities, and other food insecure populations,

the statement said.

Last month, the US Agency for International Development, through the WFP, provided around 47,500 metric tons of emergency food to Sudan.

Since 2003, conflicts have been ongoing between the army and three militant movements in Sudan’s western Darfur region. As a result, 300,000 persons have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced, according to United Nations figures.  The Sudanese government disputes these numbers, saying that only 10,000 have been killed in Darfur from a regional population of 7 million.

Read: 70,000 South Sudan refugees escape to Sudan

Currently, Sudan hosts around 400,000 refugees from the Republic of South Sudan as a result of the conflict that erupted there in 2013.