Rhino: The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday, it was receiving reports of people starving to death in Sudan, and that the number of hungry people had doubled over the past year as civilians cannot get aid because of war.

Adding that it was able to deliver aid to only one in ten people in those areas, which include the capital Khartoum, the Darfur region in the west and ElJazeera state, where were penetrated recently by the Rapid Support Forces.

In the report, WPF called the main conflicting parties to give immediate guarantees to deliver humanitarian aid to affected areas without any obstacles such as security threats, roadblocks, fees and tax requests, that are almost made it impossible to the humanitarian aid agencies to provide aid.

WPF said in the report, that it was trying to get security guarantees to resume its humanitarian operations in ElJazeera state, which was previously a centre for providing aid before people fled to it from Khartoum.

“Each of our trucks must continue its way daily to deliver food to the people of Sudan”, said Eddie Rowe, WFP Country Director and Representative in Sudan.

He added that delivering aid in Sudan were limited after 70 trucks were suspended in Port Sudan for more than two weeks, and about 31 trucks in El.Ubayyid city for more than three months. And these two cities are controlled by the Sudanese armed forces. “However, life-saving aid does not reach those who most need it, and we are already receiving reports of people starving to death”, he said.

Approximately 18 million people across Sudan are starving due to lack of food, and more than five million people are facing emergency levels of hunger in the most affected areas by war.