Statement: WFP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JOSETTE SHEERAN WELCOMES LARGEST SINGLE CONTRIBUTION FROM THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION TOWARDS FOOD ASSISTANCE IN SUDAN

Today we have had the great pleasure of welcoming the European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Kristalina Georgieva, on her first visit to the World Food Programme (WFP) headquarters in Rome.  The generous support of the European Commission helps enable WFP  to save lives and livelihoods on the frontlines of hunger.

Commissioner Georgieva came bearing good news for our largest emergency operation: a generous €46 million contribution to WFP’s programme in Sudan. There is no doubt that this latest allocation from the Commission – its largest to WFP thus far – will help save lives.

In southern Sudan, for example, the number of people who need WFP’s assistance has quadrupled in 2010 to 4.3 million, following last year’s drought and extensive crop failure. Meanwhile, in Darfur, WFP feeds up to 4 million people a month and a further 1.7 million food-insecure people in the central and eastern parts of the country. 

Sudan remains one of the world’s most complex humanitarian emergencies. We are working tirelessly with the EC’s Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) and other partners to respond to massive urgent needs and to support the most vulnerable in Sudan and help them to overcome the terrible blight of urgent hunger. 

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WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  Each year, on average, WFP feeds more than 90 million people in more than 70 countries.
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Bettina Luescher, WFP/New York, Tel. +1-646-5566909, Mob.  +1-646-8241112