The UN World Food Programme (WFP) urgently needs $162.4 million to support the Chadian government in helping 2.3 million people in dire need of food aid, including newly arrived refugees from Sudan, the organization said in a statement.
"We need urgent funding to provide rapid food assistance to all vulnerable people in the country. We are prepositioning food to respond to the Sudan refugee crisis, but it is a race against time as the rainy season hits in June and access to many areas in Chad will get cut off," Pierre Honnorat, WFP Representative and Country Director in Chad said.
The WFP said it is responding to mounting food needs in Chad, but funding shortages mean that aid to refugees and internally displaced people will be cut off completely this month unless additional funds come in.
"Rapid support from the international community is essential if we are to continue supporting the Chadian Government in providing a coordinated, effective, and life-saving response," Honnorat added.
According to the organization, since the start of hostilities in Sudan three weeks ago, more than 30,000 people have fled the violence across the border into Chad, and thousands more could flood into the country in the coming weeks. The new arrivals add to the estimated 600,000 mostly Sudanese refugees already in Chad, fleeing previous conflicts in their home countries, the WFP noted.
On April 15, violent clashes broke out between the Sudanese regular armed forces and the RSF, with the epicenter located in Khartoum. The government forces accused the RSF of mutiny and launched airstrikes against their bases. Abdel Fattah Burhan, the head of the Sudanese military, issued a decree disbanding the RSF. The parties have since introduced a number of temporary nationwide ceasefires, but the conflict has not been settled yet.
So far, around 604 people have died, and over 5,000 have been injured in clashes in Sudan, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.