UN food agency pauses aid to famine-hit Sudan

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations' food agency says it has paused aid distribution in Sudan's famine-hit Zamzam displacement camp of a half-million people as fighting intensifies between the country's warring sides, and it warns that thousands could now starve. The World Food Program said Wednesday that fighting in the past two weeks between the military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, or RSF, has forced its partners to leave the camp in western Darfur for safety. "Without immediate assistance, thousands of desperate families in Zamzam could starve in the coming weeks," said the agency's regional director, Laurent Bukera, who urged the warring sides to stop fighting and facilitate the delivery of aid. WFP has been feeding about 300,000 camp residents, but it and partners reached only 60,000 people this month amid intensified shelling. One attack destroyed the camp's central open market, pushing residents farther from essential food and supplies, the agency said. Earlier this week, the Doctors Without Borders medical charity said it paused its operations, including its field hospital, in the camp due to intensified attacks. Edem Wosornu, the U.N. humanitarian operations director, told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that satellite imagery showed heavy weapons were used in and around the camp in recent weeks. "Terrified civilians, including humanitarian workers, were unable to leave the area when the fighting was most intense," she said, adding that many people were killed including two aid workers. Famine was announced in the Zamzam camp in August and spread to two other camps for displaced people in Darfur and the Western Nuba Mountains. Famine is declared when, among other things, two adults or four children for every 10,000 people are dying each day from starvation or malnutrition combined with disease. Since then, WFP said it managed to deliver only one convoy of humanitarian supplies into the camp. It blamed road conditions during the rainy season, fighting and "purposeful obstruction" by the RSF. WFP spokeswoman Leni Kinzli said the convoy was in late November, but the agency gave out vouchers that enabled people to receive food packages from local vendors. "It's incredibly devastating," she said of the decision to pause food distribution. Zamzam camp is 12 kilometers (6.5 miles) south of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which the RSF has been trying for months to take. The RSF has been at war with the Sudanese military since April 2023. The conflict has been marked by atrocities including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the U.N. and rights groups. The International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Aid groups have made pleas for access for months in Zamzam and elsewhere, with little success. The U.N.'s top humanitarian official in Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami, has accused the RSF of preventing life-saving aid from reaching many in Darfur. The RSF and allied militias control most of that region. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward told the U.S. Security Council on Wednesday that UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy will invite foreign ministers from some 20 countries and international organizations to London in April "for discussions focused on supporting a peaceful way forward for the Sudanese people." U.S. Minister-Counselor John Kelley told the council the United States has urged the RSF to end its attacks on displaced civilians in Zamzam. ___ Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.