New York, September4( Darfur24)
UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric warned that heavy rains and flooding across Sudan are making it difficult to deliver vital supplies, adding that the fighting is “exacerbating the spread of cholera and other infectious diseases.”
Dujarric said at a press conference in New York on Wednesday that Darfur has been severely affected by devastating landslides in the Jebel Marra area, adding that the World Food Programme (WFP) is doing its utmost to deliver aid to the area, “which has been largely besieged by floods.”
The UN official welcomed the announcement that the Adré border crossing between Sudan and Chad will remain open to the movement of humanitarian supplies and personnel until the end of the year, stressing that the crossing represents a “vital lifeline for millions of people” in the Darfur and Kordofan regions.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 86,000 metric tons of vital aid have passed through the crossing, enough to provide assistance to more than 3.1 million people in the region.
The UN spokesperson affirmed the organization’s commitment to providing “necessary support to the population wherever access is possible,” but emphasized that the only way forward in the country “is an immediate cessation of hostilities and coordinated diplomatic efforts for the Sudanese people.”