Brussels - New York: Europe and the Arabs
The World Health Organization has distributed fuel to some hospitals in Sudan, and is also working to unload six containers of medical supplies that arrived by ship to Port Sudan on the Red Sea. According to the United Nations bulletin, of which we received a copy on Tuesday morning, said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for the United Nations. The United States said shipments of supplies include items needed to treat trauma and severe acute malnutrition.
In his remarks at his daily press conference on humanitarian efforts in Sudan, Dujarric said that the United Nations Population Fund supports partners on the ground with life-saving health care and safe delivery supplies.
He added that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) plans, in consultation with governments and partners, to take in more than 800,000 people who may flee the fighting in Sudan to the seven neighboring countries.
Dujarric said more people will be forced to flee in search of safety and humanitarian assistance if the crisis is not urgently resolved.
  The latest figures from UN teams on the ground confirm that 73,000 people have arrived in neighboring countries, including Sudanese refugees and returnees from third countries as well, especially South Sudanese refugees.
As the crisis in Sudan pushes millions to the brink of hunger, the World Food Program announced the immediate lifting of the temporary suspension of its operations in Sudan, which it was forced to follow after the killing of three of its staff there on the fifteenth of April.
Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the Program, stated, in a press release issued today, that food distribution is expected to begin in the coming days in the states of Gedaref, Gezira, Kassala and White Nile to provide life-saving aid to those in dire need.
McCain indicated that the security situation is still dangerous. She said the WFP is examining locations where humanitarian access is to be guaranteed, taking into account security and capacity considerations and access to those in need.
She stressed that the program will take utmost care to ensure the safety of its employees and partners, while quickly meeting the growing needs of the most vulnerable.
McCain said stopping the fighting is the best way to protect the Sudanese people and humanitarian workers. She added that more than 15 million people in Sudan were facing acute food insecurity before the conflict, and this number is likely to increase significantly with the continuation of the fighting.
In times like these, she said, the work of the World Food Program and its partners was greatly needed.
Appointment of a new UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs
The Secretary-General of the United Nations has appointed Ms. Clementine Nkweta Salamé of Cameroon as his Deputy Special Representative for Sudan. She will also become the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, succeeding Ms. Cardiata Lou Ndia of Senegal, for whose dedication the Secretary-General has expressed gratitude.
Nkweta Salami has thirty years of experience in humanitarian affairs and protection, the majority of which is in the field. For the past three years she has served as Director of the Regional Office for East Africa, the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.