The UN warns Sudan’s warring parties that Darfur risks starvation and death if aid isn’t allowed in

By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations food agency is waring Sudan’s warring parties that there is a serious risk of widespread starvation and death if they don’t allow humanitarian aid into the vast western region. Leni Kinzli, the World Food Program’s regional spokesperson, said Friday that at least 1.7 million people in Darfur were experiencing emergency levels of hunger in December, and the number “is expected to be much higher today.” She told a virtual U.N. press conference from Nairobi that “calls for humanitarian access to conflict hotspots in Sudan have never been more critical.” Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum.