USAID provides $135m in food commodities to Sudan
April 24, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has delivered $135 million in food commodities to the UN humanitarian agency working in Sudan ahead of the lean season in the war-affected country.
In a statement issued on 21 April, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) welcomed the American contribution and said that the humanitarian aid arrived in Sudan. The agency further said that the assistance consists of lentils, oil and sorghum.
“We are very grateful for the continued and unparalleled support of the people and Government of the United States, which enables us to meet the food needs of vulnerable and conflict-affected groups across Sudan,” said WFP Sudan country director Adnan Khan.
The statement said the American aid will be distributed to the needy people across the country, including 1.8 million displaced people in the Darfur region.
The USAID contribution “will also support, for a six-month period, more than half a million school children in Darfur and around 262,000 in central and eastern Sudan”.
The UN agency was keen to underline that since the separation of South Sudan in July 2011, the American administration is the “single largest donor to WFP Sudan”, adding it provided $626 million i humanitarian aid and $19.8 million for UN humanitarian air services.
Sudan has been under American economic sanctions since 1997.
The two countries are expected to resume discussions on bilateral relations next May.
Khartoum demands the removal of the sanctions which were initially imposed on the basis of Khartoum’s support to terror groups. It also refuses to link bilateral ties with resolution of armed conflicts in Darfur and the Two Areas.
However, observers say Khartoum and Washington seem disposed to make some concessions in order to ease sanctions and end the armed conflicts in the east African country.
(ST)