WFP hit by 'funds crunch' as millions face hunger in Gaza, Syria, Sudan

The deputy executive director of the UN World Food Program has been on whirlwind visits to hotspots in the Middle East and Sudan to assess dire humanitarian situations and escalating demands for food from millions of people trapped or fleeing conflicts.

But Carl Skau said in an interview this week that the Rome-based agency has been forced to make major cuts to the numbers of people it can help because of a lack of funding.

WFP is working to diversify its funding, including targeting the private sector, but Skau said, “It’s going to be a tough time ahead, no doubt, with increasing gaps.”

“Needs continue to rise, and the funding does not even remain stable at the levels we have currently,” he said.

‘A triple crisis’ in Syria

Syria is facing the fallout from a 13-year civil war, the surge in arrivals from the recent Israeli war on neighbouring Lebanon, and anti-regime forces unexpectedly ousting longtime Bashar al Assad regime, Skau said.

Even before Lebanon and the end of the Assad family’s more than 50-year rule, he said 3 million people were acutely food insecure and very hungry. However, the agency was only providing food aid to 2 million because of funding cuts.

Now, Skau said, “it’s a triple crisis, and the needs are going to be massive.”

Gaza is heading toward famine

Skau says the humanitarian situation in northern Gaza is dire but he’s equally worried about southern Gaza, “if not even more,” because of the million or so people on the beach north of Khan Younis as winter approaches.

In northern areas, where the UN estimates there are still 65,000 Palestinians and no aid has arrived for more than two months, Skau said Israeli attacks, lawlessness and taking of food aid have prevented access to the needy.

He said some humanitarian convoys have gotten through to the broader northern area including Gaza City, where the UN estimates some 300,000 people are located.

In the south, Skau said, WFP assisted around 1.2 million people in June, July, August and into September. In October and November, only one-third of that number — 400,000 Palestinians — got aid. At the same time, the entry of essential commercial goods was very little compared with the summer months, Skau said.

Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis

The needs are overwhelming: 25 million people in war-torn Sudan are acutely food insecure, with famine declared in the huge Zam Zam camp for the displaced in western Darfur.

Skau cited progress over the past month in getting clearances to deliver aid across conflict lines and the border from Chad. And with roads drying up at the end of the rainy season, WFP is able to deliver “much more food.”

WFP reached some 2.6 million people this month, Skau said, stressing that the international community should have done more to address the Sudan crisis “and needs to do more going forward.”