KHARTOUM, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Sudan on Sunday agreed on opening a new corridor for delivery of humanitarian assistance to the population in South Sudan who are facing famine.
"Sudan government has agreed on opening a new corridor for the World Food Programme (WFP) via El Obied, Heglig, Rubkona and Bentiu to cover the areas affected by famine in South Sudan's Unity and Greater Bahr el Ghazal States during this week," Ahmed Mohamed Adam, Sudan's Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, said at a press conference in Khartoum Sunday.
The Sudanese official announced that the Sudanese Presidency has directed handing over of 10,000 sacks of Sorghum in support of the humanitarian operation implemented by the United Nations for the citizens of South Sudan.
UN Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Sudan Marta Ruedas said that "we are very grateful to the government of Sudan for the open approach."
"This is not something that has been easy, and they have shown a great deal of concern, a great deal of generosity and a great deal of openness," she said.
She went on saying "thanks to the government of Sudan, we will be able to reach a lot of people, and we hope that this enables us to ease the plight of the South Sudanese and to slow the flow of refugees to this country."
According to official statistics last February, around 495,000 South Sudanese are present in Sudan. Recently famine was officially declared in South Sudan.
The South Sudanese government and the UN said 100,000 people facing starvation, with one million people classified as being on the brink of famine.
The famine was attributed to many reasons including the civil war and collapse of the economy in the new-born state.
