Situation dire in Central Darfur camp as prices soar, food rations cut

10/07/2014 13:18

The 30,000 displaced in the Deleig camp in Central Darfur are living in extremely difficult circumstances. There is no work, food rations have been cut for a number of them, and prices are soaring. A sheikh of Deleig camp told Radio Dabanga that the situation during the fasting month of Ramadan “has become desperate”. “Since May, food prices are skyrocketing, and food rations have been cut. People want to work, but there are no jobs available at all.” “The price of a pound of sugar went up from SDG3.50 to SDG4 ($0.70). The price of a bottle of cooking oil has increased from SDG12 to SDG20 ($3.50). A 100kg sack of millet used to be SDG250 ($44), now we pay SDG550 ($96).”“Prices of meat have risen from SDG18 to SDG35 for beef, and from SDG20 to SDG35 ($6) for mutton. A pound of dried okra now costs SDG50 ($8.70), while we used to pay SDG10 ($1.75).” The sheikh said that the names of a number of displaced disappeared from the records of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) last year. “Since then, they do not receive food rations anymore. The IOM promised to solve the problem four months ago, but nothing happened so far.” File photo: A displaced man carries a 100 kg sack with millet into the Unamid base in Khor Abeché, South Darfur, where he sought refuge after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces destroyed the Khor Abeché camp in March this year (Albert González Farran/Unamid) Related: Sudan inflation hits 45.3% in June (7 July 2014)

The 30,000 displaced in the Deleig camp in Central Darfur are living in extremely difficult circumstances. There is no work, food rations have been cut for a number of them, and prices are soaring.

A sheikh of Deleig camp told Radio Dabanga that the situation during the fasting month of Ramadan “has become desperate”.

“Since May, food prices are skyrocketing, and food rations have been cut. People want to work, but there are no jobs available at all.”

“The price of a pound of sugar went up from SDG3.50 to SDG4 ($0.70). The price of a bottle of cooking oil has increased from SDG12 to SDG20 ($3.50). A 100kg sack of millet used to be SDG250 ($44), now we pay SDG550 ($96).”

“Prices of meat have risen from SDG18 to SDG35 for beef, and from SDG20 to SDG35 ($6) for mutton. A pound of dried okra now costs SDG50 ($8.70), while we used to pay SDG10 ($1.75).”

The sheikh said that the names of a number of displaced disappeared from the records of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) last year. “Since then, they do not receive food rations anymore. The IOM promised to solve the problem four months ago, but nothing happened so far.”

File photo: A displaced man carries a 100 kg sack with millet into the Unamid base in Khor Abeché, South Darfur, where he sought refuge after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces destroyed the Khor Abeché camp in March this year (Albert González Farran/Unamid)

Related: Sudan inflation hits 45.3% in June (7 July 2014)