DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates signed an agreement with UNICEF to allocate US$7 million to provide emergency food aid in connection with the crisis in Sudan, reported Sputnik, citing the Emirates News Agency.
Of these funds, US$6 million is intended for Sudan and US$1 million for South Sudan. It is noted that 17.7 million people in Sudan and 7.1 million people in South Sudan suffer from food insecurity.
Earlier, the UAE Foreign Ministry said that the country had already financed 70 per cent of its US$100 million pledge at an international conference in April in support of Sudan and neighbouring countries.
In addition to the World Food Programme, these funds are intended for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).
Since April 15, 2023, fierce fighting has been going on in Sudan between the Rapid Response Force (RRF) under the command of Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo and the regular army. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that the ongoing fighting in the country could lead to outbreaks of disease and a fatal collapse of the healthcare system.
According to the UN, more than 8.2 million people in Sudan have fled their homes due to the fighting, of which about 1.7 million have fled to neighbouring countries. The country’s health minister, Haysam Mohammed Ibrahim, told Sputnik that more than 13,000 people had died and over 30,000 had been injured in a year of the armed conflict in Sudan.– BERNAMA-SPUTNIK
