The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations has expressed concern after violent incidents around the city of El Fasher in the vast Sudanese region have led to the closure of a recently opened humanitarian corridor from Chad. The attacks in El Fasher, the last stronghold of the Sudanese army in Darfur, which is home to approximately 1.6 million people, have triggered severe warnings of a new wave of mass displacement and sectarian conflict amid the ongoing war in Sudan that has lasted for a year.
The WFP noted that "recent violence around El Fasher has halted the movement of aid convoys through the Tine border crossing in Chad, while restrictions imposed by authorities allied with the army prevent the delivery of aid via the other only humanitarian route from Chad at Adré." Only small amounts of aid have entered El Fasher during the war, which is the only channel approved by the army for transporting shipments to other parts of Darfur. Médecins Sans Frontières reported that "in the Zamzam refugee camp in North Darfur, 30 percent of at least 46,000 children suffer from acute malnutrition," indicating a massive crisis in the making.
