Funding shortage threatens to halt aid to Sudanese refugees: UN agency

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) warned on Monday that its life-saving food assistance to Sudanese refugees could come to a halt in coming months due to the funding cuts, threatening to reduce millions of Sudanese refugees to hunger and malnutrition.

About four million Sudanese have fled to the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Libya, since conflict erupted in Sudan in April 2023, and these Sudanese refugees are entirely dependent on humanitarian aid to survive, the WFP said.

The WFP aid operation is facing acute funding cuts, and the food assistance to Sudanese refugees will reduce or even halt in coming months, unless there are new fundings, said the WFP.

The WFP said that it needs more than 200 million U.S. dollars to sustain its emergency response for Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries for the next six months, and an additional 575 million U.S. dollars for helping the most vulnerable inside Sudan.

The conflict, which erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the rival Rapid Support Forces, has already claimed 29,700 lives and displaced 12 million people.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 20 pips to 7.0108 against the U.S. dollar Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.