UN supplies ready for famine-stricken camp in Sudan await approval

United Nations, Aug 7 (IANS) A UN humanitarian official said that life-saving supplies are ready in Sudan's principal port for dispatch to the Zamzam camp in North Darfur, where officials earlier declared famine conditions exist.

However, Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said on Tuesday that, the shipment, including essential medicines, nutritional supplies, water purification tablets, and soap, awaits the approvals and security assurances needed before it can be transported, Xinhua news agency reported.

During a Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in Sudan, she told members that it is crucial that permission is quickly granted for the movement of the supplies from Port Sudan to the camp near the capital of North Darfur State, El Fasher.

The council meeting came only days after the Famine Review Committee concluded that famine conditions are present in the Zamzam camp.

Assistant Executive Director Stephen Omollo of the World Food Programme (WFP) told members that the agency is significantly scaling up operations across the country and that the WFP will prioritise reaching people facing emergency and catastrophic levels of hunger along with those who have been internally displaced.

Both officials said the conflict must stop, and a ceasefire remains the only sustainable solution to prevent the further spread of famine in Sudan.