WFP probes aid blockages in Sudan: report
The World Food Programme is investigating two senior staff members in Sudan over allegations of fraud and downplaying cases where the Sudanese army has blocked aid agencies from providing relief to areas controlled by the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to a report from Reuters.
Two people with knowledge of the investigation told Retuers about an incident in June 2024 in which a WFP official allegedly concealed from donors a decision by army-aligned authorities to stop 15 trucks from carrying aid to the western Darfur region.
The Reuters report said another WFP official is being investigated for the alleged disappearance of over 200,000 litres of UN fuel that was warehoused in the city of Kosti.
WFP did not provide comment to Reuters on the nature of the alleged wrongdoing but said “allegations of individual misconduct related to irregularities in pockets of our operation in Sudan” are under review.
Sudan’s war began in April 2023 and has produced the world’s largest displacement crisis, uprooting more than 10 million people, as well as the biggest hunger crisis. Both sides see humanitarian aid as a strategic resource and have prevented it from going into areas controlled by one another.
Famine was declared in Darfur earlier this month by the Famine Review Committee, which is part of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a system for measuring food crises that includes UN agencies, aid groups, and national governments.
On 15 August, the army gave permission for aid trucks to move into Darfur through the Adré crossing in neighbouring Chad. The crossing provides the most direct route into Darfur and was sealed off by the army in February.
However, as of 26 August, only 38 trucks have arrived because of new bureaucratic impediments imposed by the Humanitarian Aid Commision, an army-aligned body that manages humanitarian work.
The army has no physical presence along the Adré border, but UN agencies have complied with its directives because it sees it as the legitimate de facto authority in Sudan, even though it took power in a 2021 coup.
Some international NGOs told The New Humanitarian they are ignoring the Adré restrictions, however they do not have the resources to mount a full-scale famine response in the way UN agencies do.
Check out our homepage of Sudan-related stories for more background and reporting on the conflict.
