WFP Geneva Palais Briefing Note: WFP warns El Obeid is becoming the new epicentre of Sudan's displacement and hunger crisis

GENEVA – I'm calling from Kosti, having just returned from a one-day trip to El Obeid city to witness the humanitarian situation on the ground. We have been providing humanitarian assistance in El Obeid, even before this current crisis, and yesterday what I saw was a city that is becoming the epicentre of Sudan’s displacement and hunger crisis.

El Obeid is a city of around half a million people and some estimates put the number of displaced people in the area at double that. People have been fleeing to the city from the South Kordofan, the West Kordofan, and lately from the North Kordofan, and even from as far as Darfur.

It's a crowded city with open and overcrowded camps. More than 120,000 people are in what is called the Unified IDP Camp – an official camp with tents and shelters - but many more are living with families in the host community, or they are just making their own shelter from whatever materials they can find.

The city is already stressed; we know that food, water and fuel are big concerns for people within the city. WFP has been providing food assistance to over 100,000 people in camps inside the city, but it isn’t enough. Many more within El Obeid need urgent assistance. 

Fuel supplies in El Obeid are running extremely low which has made it impossible for our partners to move food. WFP has had to bring in its own fleet trucks to ensure we can move food from our warehouses to the distribution points and continue operations.

Despite everything that I saw, what stood out was how generous the city and its residents have been to the displaced families. They are hosting a large number of people, but also sharing any resources and services available. Funding shortfalls mean that we aren’t even able to provide a full ration, people are only receiving 50 percent of the food they should. Despite this, the people I met were sharing what they had with their neighbours and other families who have no source of income.

I visited the camp and met people queuing for food or water. It was very clear that whatever humanitarian agencies are bringing into the city is the only lifeline for people in these camps. I met one woman at a food distribution point. She told me she only gets what WFP provides and has no source of income to support herself. But it isn’t enough to sustain her.

We want to do more, but our resources are stretched. We have the access in El Obeid, we can deliver the food, and we can be in the city. It is only resources that are limiting our operations.