U.S. Aid Agency: Insecurity Threatens Harvest in Central and Eastern Sudan

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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) stated that the ongoing insecurity in central and eastern Sudan is likely to disrupt the harvest season from December to January, exacerbating the already severe food insecurity, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network funded by USAID.

In a statement last Monday on its digital platform, the agency explained that since the outbreak of the conflict in mid-April last year, it has activated a disaster response team and a response management team to coordinate ongoing response efforts in Sudan.

"The United States, as the largest international donor of humanitarian aid in Sudan, continues to provide needs-based, impartial assistance to vulnerable populations affected by the conflict," it added, noting that it "provides emergency assistance as allowed by access and security, while continuing to assess the growing humanitarian needs to support the most vulnerable and conflict-affected Sudanese communities."

The assistance and its management cover 15 sectors, including agriculture, education, disaster risk reduction policies, food assistance, health, humanitarian coordination and information management, livelihoods and economic recovery, logistics and relief commodities, monitoring and assessment, multi-purpose cash assistance, multi-sectoral assistance, nutrition, protection, shelter and camps, and water, sanitation, and hygiene. To carry out these tasks, the agency collaborates with 37 international agencies, UN agencies, and non-governmental international organizations.

The agency operates in 16 states of the eighteen Sudanese states, the Abyei region, as well as in the five countries where Sudanese refugees are located.