ADRE, Chad: Food aid for more than half a million refugees who have fled from Sudan to Chad will run out next month without extra funding, a World Food Programme official said on Wednesday.
“By December, there will be no assistance,” Pierre Honnorat, Chad country director for the UN agency, told Reuters. “We are calling for urgent, urgent funding now.”
More than 540,000 refugees have crossed from Sudan into Chad since war erupted seven months ago between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to the International Organization for Migration.
Many have fled from West Darfur, where ethnically driven violence and mass killings erupted again this month in the state capital El Geneina, pushing thousands more people to flee. Reuters has reported that between April and June this year the RSF and allied Arab militias conducted weeks of systematic attacks targeting the Masalit, El Geneina’s majority ethnic African tribe.
Those who have arrived this year joined refugees and displaced people already in camps in Chad, where Honnorat described conditions as “extremely hard.”
“Now it’s winter, but still it’s super hot,” he said. “The nutrition problem is going through the roof.”
“We need $25 million minimum every month to assist to provide a meal a day to those roughly 800,000 people we are trying to serve.”
Sudan’s conflict has also contributed to spreading hunger within the country. On Wednesday the UN Food and Agriculture Organization said it had distributed seeds for cereals that could feed 13 million to 19 million people, after farming was badly disrupted by the war’s impact.
More than 20 million out of a total population of 49 million in Sudan are facing high levels of acute fuel insecurity, according to assessments by the UN, NGOs and other groups.
UN warns that food aid running out for Sudanese refugees in Chad
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UN warns that food aid running out for Sudanese refugees in Chad
- “By December, there will be no assistance,” Pierre Honnorat, Chad country director for the UN agency, told Reuters
- More than 540,000 refugees have crossed from Sudan into Chad since war erupted seven months ago
Mass grave found in Libya containing bodies of 21 migrants
- A Libyan national has been arrested on suspicion of killing the migrants and holding others captive
- Photos and video circulated by local media outlets showed bodies piled together
TRIPOLI: Libyan authorities have uncovered a mass grave containing the bodies of 21 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, local media reported Thursday.
News outlets cited government sources as saying a Libyan national has been arrested on suspicion of killing the migrants and holding others captive on a farm in the northeastern town of Ajdabiya.
Libya is a key transit country for thousands of migrants attempting to reach Europe each year, with deaths among migrants frequently reported.
The Internal Security Agency for Libya’s east said it had “discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of 21 individuals of various African nationalities,” according to television channel Al-Masar.
The channel, which is aligned with eastern Libya’s army strongman Khalifa Haftar, said the suspect was detained during a raid on the farm.
Libya remains split between an administration in the east backed by Haftar and a government in the west recognized by the United Nations.
Independent news channel Al Wasat reported that the man had held migrants captive on the farm, some of whom were rescued and hospitalized after the raid.
Photos and video circulated by local media outlets showed bodies piled together and more than a dozen body bags laid out on the ground.
Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 overthrew longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Smugglers and human traffickers have taken advantage of the instability, with the country facing criticism over conditions for migrants and rights groups levelling accusations of extortion and slavery.
