WFP scales up operation in Darfur as rainy season worsens

NAIROBI, Aug 18 (AFP) — The UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Wednesday said it is scaling up delivery of relief food to hundreds of thousands of people in western Sudan’s Darfur region as the rainy reason begins to bite.

“In order to meet the challenge in Darfur, WFP is urgently scaling up its operation into the region, with particular emphasis being placed on El-Geneina, the capital of West Darfur, the state worst affected by the rains,” WFP said in a statement.

The WFP representative in Sudan, Ramiro Lopes da Silva, said delivery of food to the region by air is expensive but the only option at this time of year.

“The next six weeks will be critical as the rainy season really begins to bite — we have a massive task ahead of us,” Da Silva said in the statement sent to AFP.

“From today, WFP will be using three Antonov 12 cargo planes to airlift 100 tonnes of food per day to El-Geneina. The three planes are to complete three rotations per a day,” the statement added.

If the weather conditions continue to worsen, then the runway in El Geneina will become unusable, the agency warned.

“A third helicopter has arrived in Sudan to assist the transportation of drop-zones teams into locations where air drops are to be received,” the statement said.

The UN estimates that up to 50,000 people have been killed since Sudan’s armed forces and the Janjaweed militia cracked down on minority tribes backing a rebellion, which erupted in Darfur in February 2003. However, the government disputes the figure.

Another 1.2 million people have fled their homes in Sudan and up to 200,000 more have been settled in makeshift camps in neighboring Chad, the United Nations says.