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UN agency uses new route through Sudan to deliver food to South Sudan: spokesman

Xinhua, March 30, 2017 Adjust font size:

The World Food Programme (WFP) on Thursday began to move food assistance to reach people hit by famine and food-insecure in South Sudan by using a newly opened humanitarian corridor announced by the Government of Sudan, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, told reporters here.

"The first convoy of 27 trucks carrying an initial 1,200 metric tons of sorghum started moving today from El Obeid in central Sudan towards Bentiu in South Sudan," Haq said at a daily news briefing here. "The convoys will take at least five days to complete the 500-km journey."

In the next few weeks, WFP plans to deliver 11,000 metric tons of sorghum in seven convoys of 30 to 40 trucks, which is enough to feed 300,000 people for three months, he added.

At least 7.5 million people across South Sudan, almost two thirds of the population, need humanitarian assistance, WFP said.

South Sudan said earlier that about five million people are at risk of famine, which has hit two areas in Unity State and is spreading to Northern Bahr el Ghazal State.

The famine in South Sudan was attributed to many reasons including the civil war and collapse of the economy in the new-born state. Enditem