UN / SUDAN EL FASHER DARFUR UPDATE
STORY: UN / SUDAN EL FASHER DARFUR UPDATE
TRT: 3:24
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 03 MAY 2024, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior, United Nations Headquarters
03 MAY 2024, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Leni Kinzli, World Food Program’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan:
“So today the United Nations World Food Program is warning that time is running out to prevent starvation in Darfur, as intensifying clashes in North Darfur’s capital El Fasher are hindering our efforts to deliver vital food assistance into the region.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Leni Kinzli, World Food Program’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan:
“This latest escalation of violence around El Fasher has halted aid convoys coming from Chad's Tine border crossing, which has recently been opened as a humanitarian corridor that passes through north Darfur’s capital. Meanwhile, restrictions from authorities in Port Sudan on are preventing WFP from transporting assistance via Adre, the only other viable cross border corridor from Chad. The route can serve west Darfur and other locations in central, south and east Darfur.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Leni Kinzli, World Food Program’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan:
“These access constraints are jeopardizing our plans to provide vital assistance to over 700,000 people ahead of the rainy season, when many roads across Darfur become impassable. WFP currently has 8,000 tons of food supplies ready to move in Chad, ready to transport but isn't able to do so because of these constraints.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Leni Kinzli, World Food Program’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan:
“Our calls for humanitarian access to conflict hotspots in Sudan have never been more critical. WFP urgently requires unrestricted access and security guarantees to deliver assistance to the families struggling for survival amid devastating levels of violence. And we must be able to use the Adre border crossing and move assistance across front lines from Port Sudan in the east into Darfur so we can reach people in this desperate region.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Leni Kinzli, World Food Program’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan:
“The recent surge in violence in El Fasher is exacerbating critical humanitarian needs in Darfur, where at least 1.7 million people are already experiencing emergency levels of hunger, or IPC4 of IPC 5 on the internationally recognized integrated phase classification scale. And this is an estimate from December of last year expected to be much higher today. El Fasher had been a relative safe haven for families, hosting many IDP camps that predate the current conflict. Yet conditions were already critical with reports of children dying of malnutrition.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Leni Kinzli, World Food Program’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan:
“The window to avert this is rapidly closing and a concerted diplomatic effort by the international community is needed to push the warring parties to provide access and safety guarantees and adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law.”
14. Wide shot, press briefing room
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) is warning that “time is running out to prevent starvation in Darfur, as intensifying clashes in North Darfur’s capital El Fasher are hindering our efforts to deliver vital food assistance into the region,” said a WFP spokesperson in Sudan.
Leni Kinzli, World Food Program’s (WFP) Spokesperson in Sudan briefed reporters today (03 May) from Nairobi via video link, on the situation in El Fasher and Darfur.
She said, “This latest escalation of violence around El Fasher has halted aid convoys coming from Chad's Tine border crossing, which has recently been opened as a humanitarian corridor that passes through north Darfur’s capital.”
Meanwhile, the WFP Spokesperson added, “restrictions from authorities in Port Sudan on are preventing WFP from transporting assistance via Adre, the only other viable cross border corridor from Chad. The route can serve west Darfur and other locations in central, south and east Darfur.”
Kinzli further explained, “These access constraints are jeopardizing our plans to provide vital assistance to over 700,000 people ahead of the rainy season, when many roads across Darfur become impassable.”
She added, “WFP currently has 8,000 tons of food supplies ready to move in Chad, ready to transport but isn't able to do so because of these constraints.”
The WFP Spokesperson reiterated, “Our calls for humanitarian access to conflict hotspots in Sudan have never been more critical,” adding that “WFP urgently requires unrestricted access and security guarantees to deliver assistance to the families struggling for survival amid devastating levels of violence.”
She continued, “And we must be able to use the Adre border crossing and move assistance across front lines from Port Sudan in the east into Darfur so we can reach people in this desperate region.”
Kinzli also said, “The recent surge in violence in El Fasher is exacerbating critical humanitarian needs in Darfur, where at least 1.7 million people are already experiencing emergency levels of hunger, or IPC4 of IPC 5 on the internationally recognized integrated phase classification scale.”
“And this is an estimate from December of last year expected to be much higher today,” she emphasized.
The WFP Spokesperson said, “El Fasher had been a relative safe haven for families, hosting many IDP camps that predate the current conflict. Yet conditions were already critical with reports of children dying of malnutrition.”
She concluded, “The window to avert this is rapidly closing and a concerted diplomatic effort by the international community is needed to push the warring parties to provide access and safety guarantees and adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law.”