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The United Nations' World Food Programme said on Tuesday its first food trucks in several months had got through to a famine-stricken camp for displaced people in conflict-ravaged Sudan.

War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under de facto ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

It has triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. More than 25 million people - over half the population - are facing acute hunger.

"WFP food trucks arrived in North Darfur's Zamzam camp last Friday, where famine was confirmed earlier this year," the UN agency's Sudan spokeswoman Leni Kinzli told a media briefing in Geneva.

"These are the first WFP food items that we have been able to transport into the camp in many months, carrying emergency food aid for 12,500 people," she said, speaking from Nairobi.

"While the amount of aid on this convoy is just a drop in the ocean... these trucks are delivering hope to people in Zamzam who have been battling famine on their own, cut off from aid for many months."

Eating peanut shells

The North Darfur state capital, El-Fasher, has been under siege by the RSF for months, disabling nearly all aid operations in the region and pushing nearby Zamzam into famine.

"My colleagues on the ground in Zamzam camp told me that people were lined up on the road cheering as the WFP convoy arrived," said Kinzli.

"Families are eating crushed peanut shells to survive," she said, adding that the shells are normally used for animal feed.

"Across the camp there are parents who are mourning the deaths of their children who passed away from malnutrition."

Following talks on Monday with new UN aid chief Tom Fletcher, Sudan's Burhan announced that all relevant UN agencies would be allowed to establish supply hubs in El Obeid, Kadugli and Ad-Damazin.

"UN personnel will also be authorised to accompany convoys and oversee aid distribution," he said on X.

Fletcher welcomed the announcement, saying more humanitarian hubs "will allow us to reach more Sudanese".

More trucks coming

Kinzli said the WFP and its partners had been providing locally sourced food to around 100,000 displaced people in Zamzam in recent months while pushing for road access.

The end of the rainy season has now made the roads more passable, while bureaucratic impediments have also started to recede.

More than 700 WFP food aid trucks are currently en route to destinations in Sudan, including 14 areas either facing famine or at risk of famine.

The trucks are carrying around 17,000 tonnes of food aid - enough to feed 1.5 million people for a month.

A second convoy is heading towards Zamzam, having been on the road from Port Sudan for two weeks. It has travelled 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) so far and has 300 km to go.

"The last part of this dangerous and long journey is the most risky and unsafe," said Kinzli.

Another convoy is heading to areas in South Kordofan that have received little to no assistance since the war began.

"All parties to the conflict - militias, and armed groups or tribes - must allow these convoys to pass safely," said Kinzli.

"Safe passage and unfettered access are critical for WFP to be able to halt famine in Zamzam and prevent it from spreading to other areas."