SPECIAL FEATURE
CRISIS IN SUDAN
“REACHING THE PEOPLE IS HALF THE STRUGGLE” Even before the recent outbreak of violence, a third of Sudan was regularly going hungry. As troubles mount up, what does the future hold for Sudan – and how can the development community help? By Howard Hudson, OPEC Fund
PROFILE: LENI KINZLI
Leni Kinzli has been Head of Communications at the World Food Programme in Sudan since September 2020. She previously worked as Public Information Officer for the United Nations in Nigeria, South Sudan and New York City.
“H unger season” falls from June to September each year in Sudan, and is a time when subsistence farmers and their families struggle to survive, often seeking help from the World Food Programme (WFP), either in the form of food parcels or cash handouts. Compounding matters, it is also the rainy season, when poor roads make travel and food distribution extremely difficult, even in peacetime. Published just days before the latest outbreak of violence, a WFP assessment found that almost 17 million people in Sudan were already suffering from “acute food insecurity” – which means they are not starving, but are rarely sure where the next meal will come from. That number is now very likely to rise to well over 19 million people, given the massive disruptions sweeping the country – disruptions directly linked to the security situation but also following the widespread looting of UN warehouses. According to the WFP, more than 17,000 metric tonnes of emergency food supplies were stolen in the first few days of the fighting alone. Food destined for people who were already going hungry. After losing several staff in April, the WFP and other UN organizations moved their operations from Khartoum to the relative safety of Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast. Yet beyond immediate needs in Sudan, the conflict is already having knock-on effects, as food aid has stalled to landlocked South Sudan. A regional crisis looms.
In an interview held just before the conflict erupted, the WFP’s Head of Communications in Sudan, Leni Kinzli, highlighted the many risks and vulnerabilities facing this immense African country, which even in peacetime struggles to feed its population.
Smoke plumes in the sky above Khartoum due to clashes between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces
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