Carl Skau (World Food Program) following his mission to Sudan - Press Conference

Play all songs of the Kapil Sharma Show. Good morning. Carl, I see Carl. Good morning. Good morning, everybody in New York. Good afternoon in Rome. Carl, I see you. We will have a briefing now by Mr. Carl Skow about his recent visit to Sudan, and then we'll take a couple of questions. Please, Mr. Carl, go ahead.

Thank you. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Can you hear me? Perfect. Great. Now, thanks for this opportunity and thanks for those of you in the room listening in. I'm speaking to you actually from Oman, from Muscat, but all the same. I just wrapped up an eight-day visit to Sudan. I visited Khartoum. I visited El Obeid. El-Fasher, Tawila. And I really had the chance on those front lines to see what this terrible conflict and its aftermath in some places do to people, to access, and to hunger. If I start with people, I met people across the country. I met people who had been displaced three years ago when the war started. But I also met people who had been displaced the same day that I spoke to them, or some that had walked for four or five days to get to an IDP camp when their houses, their villages had been destroyed. I sat down with women in camps. I had a chance to speak to one former university student who is now sitting in that hut. All she wanted was to work, but there was no opportunity. She had lost family members, her mother, depressed, her father sick. And, you know, I also spoke to women who were waiting in the queue to get water from a water tank. About noon, that water tank ran out of water, so they had to return with their empty cans back home, obviously extremely distressed. So I'm just with you, illustrating a few examples of what hundreds of thousands of people now in Sudan are going through and the kind of human dimension behind all these numbers that we see. On access, the journey between El Obeid and El Fasher, which before the war used to take around six hours by car, now that took me three days. You know, I had to take three different flights, an eight hour altogether flight from Khartoum to Addis, to N'Djamena, to Adre, then about a 30 hour car ride through the Jebel Marra mountains to get to El Fasher. And this is, of course, because of the conflict, because we are not able to go across line, across the fighting lines. And finally, on hunger, I mean, it's important to underline here that Sudan is still the world's largest hunger and displacement crisis. 20 million people in acute hunger, 14 million people displaced. some 5 million of those acutely hunger in emergency level, IPC 4, and still 200,000 in IPC 5 levels of starvation. So this is the largest hunger crisis that we are facing right now. And given that, Sudan does, in my view, not get by far the attention it deserves. You know, humanitarians are attacked. We had a hit two weeks ago only on one of our convoys trying to get to dealing in the corridor. Access is difficult, as I explained, partly due to security, partly due to not getting the clearances necessary. But it's also possible to work there. WFP reaches, between four and five million people every month. Two million or 2.5 million of those are in the hardest to reach areas, so it is possible to make a difference. Now, what is really our main challenge is funding. Our operations are completely underfunded and there is a risk that we will have to scale back quite significantly in the next few weeks unless more funding is being provided. I will walk you through the trip I took just to kind of illustrate that what this looks like. So I'll start with El-Fasher because, you know, I'm one of the few who have visited El-Fasher following the events of last year. And I must say that this was a very heavy experience. It's a daunting city. You know, it's the city that was under siege for 18 months. The people suffered through famine. They suffered through these unspeakable atrocities. It's a city that once was you know, home to a million people, the sprawling kind of capital of Darfur. Now there are only a few tens of thousands of people still. You know, we were driving through street after street with homes riddled with bullets. You know, there were burned cars basically everywhere in every street corner. I didn't see any economic activity, no markets, maybe a couple of stands with women selling something. And, you know, some families I spoke to had returned because frankly, where they had fled to, they had nothing. But they also weren't staying at home. They had, you know, their homes were burned, so they had decided to be in maybe some other empty house they had found, and everyone trying to also, the few who are left, staying more closer to each other. So really a daunting city, a harrowing experience. The largest crowd of people I saw in El Fasher was only where we were doing our WFP distributions. You know, we are reaching a couple, some 20,000 people now with life-saving food assistance. But that's the only assistance, frankly, that gets into El Fasher. It's the only thing that the people who are still there rely on. Driving out of El Fasher, we went through the Zamzam camp, you know, this IDP camp that was already there when this, when this siege began. And this, if anything, is even worse than El Fasher. It's a completely abandoned place, and with huts and small houses completely destroyed. There was no one there, a complete ghost town. Then moving on from Zamzam, we took the road, or it's basically driving on the savanna from El Fasher to Tawila. It's about 60 kilometer drive. It took us now an hour, but you know, driving through the bush there, you know, it was hard to imagine that only less than a year ago, some 700,000 people had moved through that space, had done that journey, you know, this exodus of people that made it out of and through the atrocities of El Fasher to seek safety in Tawila, where we also know that many of these tragedies took place on that journey. So arriving in Tawila, it's my second time in Tawila. I was there in April, as some of you may know. You know, it's an endless ocean of grass huts. It's now close to a million people. You know, when I was there in April, there was 700,000. Now some 250,000 more have arrived. If I compare to back in April, though, Despite the fact that there are many more people now and that the area have expanded even more, some now the shelter is better. I then called for the need for better shelter because the women had told me they want plastic sheeting tarps for the roofing because of the rains. There was some of that now. There was nothing when I was there last time. And of course, also we, since then, as WFP have been able to scale up. And we are now delivering to the entire population, to some 950,000 people every month. But we're only providing a half ration. We are only providing them the food that lasts them for two weeks. And that is done every month. And so, you know, it is not enough. And there are many, many women-headed households there. Many have lost their husbands, many have lost their sons. And the women I sat down to speak with, they are really struggling to make it last, given that they're only receiving this half ration. And of course, there is not enough education or space for kids to play, not enough shelter and health care. It's just a massive city now of 1 million people without the basics. On top of that, driving through Darfur, everywhere I stopped, what people wanted to talk about was the drought. Darfur hasn't been this dry since 1984, and right now is the rainy season. And so, you know, everyone is frightened that this will have a serious hit on agriculture and the agricultural outcome. And then, of course, also for livestock further down the road. And like some told me, we rely on that agriculture and we rely on the WFP food. And if the agriculture is now hit by the drought and WFP's food is hit by funding cuts, how will we survive? And I think that is really the concern in Darfur for the next few months. Then I actually started off my trip in the Kordofan, well, in Khartoum, but then in the Kordofan. And the Blue Nile is where the fighting is now escalating. That's, if the epicenter a year ago, all the fighting was in Darfur, now it's in the Kordofan, in the Blue Nile. And I visited the city of El Obeid. you know, which was under risk of being besieged a few weeks ago with heavy fighting in the surroundings. It's a huge city that, you know, had a million people before the war, and it's now kind of doubled in size. It's a city that used to be really the meeting place of Sudan. It's kind of like Rome. All roads in Sudan lead to El Obeid. And so it's become kind of a safe haven where people from across the country has been arriving. now like a melting pot with displaced from all over. There are eight camps there for internally displaced. Many also live in host communities, but these camps are absolutely overstretched. And when I was there, as I said, people kept arriving. I mean, I was at the registration place where people had arrived that morning. The women had been walking four or five days in the West Kordofan, in the South of Kordofan. Their houses, their villages had been in the destroyed. Our challenge there is also funding. So we are providing less and less, but we're also having to cut off assistance to those who arrived three years ago. So we are prioritizing those who are newly arrived. but, of course, to the detriment of those who have been there longer, who are people who have nothing to turn to. It is not possible for them to get any jobs. They have been through terrible atrocities and they cannot return home. It is a very tense and difficult place where we now have to so tightly prioritise. In terms of challenges, access remains a challenge, as I explained. you know, we are not able to do the cross line that we wish we were, but we are being able to, into Darfur, bring food from Cameroon or through Cameroon and Chad into the Darfur. In the Kordofan, we are bringing food from Port Sudan and from Khartoum. So, you know, we are being able to deliver. We are getting it done. It's very dangerous, as we saw when our trucks were hit a couple of weeks ago, but we are trying our best. Of course, we would like more staff permanently on the ground in those difficult places. We would like to have better deconfliction, and we would like to be able to drive across lines, which would be much cheaper and faster in order to reach more people much faster. We would also like to expand our air service. We are now providing an air service into Khartoum, but of course, it would be great if we could do that also in Darfur and into El Obeid. Now, the big issue, though, is funding. We now have the capacity, we have the presence, but we are not fully using that space because of the lack of funding. And in the next few weeks, as I said, the risk is that we will have to scale back even further, and then it will be very difficult for us to regain that space. I mean, in concluding, what we see playing out in Sudan is really you know, what we also see at the global level. And it's all hitting at once. So it's the conflict that is, you know, driving displacement, disrupting markets and trade. It is the maritime disruptions in Bab el Mandeb and Hormuz that is really hitting Sudan as well, with its ports on the Red Sea. And thirdly, it's the El Nino and the climate shocks with the drought we now see in the Darfur. And all this is coming together, really putting pressure on the already suffering people in Sudan. So what's needed clearly is an end to this conflict. And I can't underline that enough heading into this year's UN high level, weak General Assembly, I really hope that there will be political investment, political energy into bringing an end to this conflict. That is my number one appeal. But short of that, you know, people deserve to be supported with the basic humanitarian assistance. I feel that we are really failing to protect the civilians now in the Cordovan, in the Blue Nile. We certainly failed to protect and prevent the atrocities in El Fasher last year. We have not done enough for those IDPs who have ended up in camps. We need to do more. We need to step up. We cannot keep failing these people. We need to provide them with the basics. We feel that we now have the capacity on the ground. We have the access, together with the UN agencies, under the leadership of Denise Brown, the RC. We just want to get that work done. And we hope that donors will step up and provide us the funding to do so. I think I'll end there, but very happy to take any question that you may have on this. So back over to you in New York.

Thank you so much, Mr. Skow. Thank you so much for this detailed description of the tragic situation there. I'll open the floor to questions. Bisan, yes, please go ahead.

Thank you very much. First, on behalf of the UN Correspondents Association, just wanted to thank you for this briefing. Bisan Abu Qwaik with Al Jazeera. Just, I mean, how do you respond to the people that you meet on the road and trying to comfort them when they say, how can we survive at the time where you're facing, and you just walked us through all of these challenges that have to do with funding and access, even though that it's improving a little bit. in what you just mentioned.

Well, what I can say to them is that I will, you know, WFP is determined and committed to do whatever we can. And I personally will do my best to bring attention to the situation and mobilize the resources necessary to deliver our programs. But I must tell you that, you know, the desperation you meet is sometimes hard to manage. And And I want to again say that, you know, the visit to El Fasher was heavy. I have seen a lot in this job and beyond, but this was quite special. And it just illustrates, you know, what conflict leaves behind. And I think it underlines the urgency of bringing an end to this conflict.

Thank you. Efrim, please go ahead.

Thank you so much, Ms. Skou. This is Efrim Kosaifi from Arab News Daily. Your colleagues at the IOM have also issued a warning today that the entire humanitarian system in Sudan could collapse within weeks if funding does not come on time. How close are we to that scenario from what you've seen? That's my first question. Then I have another one.

I won't be able to speak to the overall funding environment. Denise Brown, the RCH, will have to take those questions. But perhaps we are about a third funded, if I compare to last year. We are hopeful that we can mobilize more. There were certainly more commitments made at the Berlin conference at the start of this year. And so we hope that there is more to come. but it will still be short of what we need. What we also need to do, of course, is then to see what we can mobilize in terms of development resources. There are, of course, opportunities in areas that are more stable to also invest in resilience. For example, we are expanding our school meals program across areas where schools are back operating. That's an excellent way of not only bringing kids back to school, but to ensure that they have something to eat. and also, you know, to support local agriculture. So that's one program. We're also looking at how we can improve production of food for small and medium-sized farmers. You know, it may be that the irrigation systems have been destroyed or other ways of getting farmers back on their land. If production goes up like it did last year for wheat, for example, prices can come down and then those who we are supporting with cash in areas like Khartoum get further with their assistance. But, you know, we are now knocking every door, we're banging every table we can, and we will turn every stone to try to find the resources necessary to now tap the opportunities that are there to make sure that we use that space that is there to deliver.

Yes, and you spoke about the effect of the situation at Bab el-Mandeb and Strait of Hormuz on Sudan. Can you explain to us exactly and concretely how is that affecting your work there?

Well, you know, all the fertilizer in Sudan came from the Gulf. So in this planting season, there has basically been none, you know, at least very, very little. The farmers that I've spoken to in the past have not had any. So that will have an impact on production, on the harvest in a couple of months from now. There's no doubt about that. Also, energy prices and food prices have shot up as a result. And of course, our operations, we've had disruptions to our shipments, so it takes much longer to bring rise in from India, for example, due to these disruptions. And this was only when we had the issue in the Hormuz. Now with Bab el-Mandeb, you know, things risk getting even worse, given that this is on the Red Sea. I think it's important to really draw attention now to what's happening in Yemen. You know, before going to Sudan, I was in Yemen. I was there because I wanted to draw attention to the risk of the escalation that we're now seeing, now that it's been unfolding. It is having a heavy hit on the Yemenis in two ways, I would say. One is that there are now more displacements. And already before, we weren't really able to manage the displacement burden that was already there. We had really cut down in our programs. And we are not able to operate in the north, given that the minimum operating conditions are not there. So it's really hitting hard on the Yemenis in terms of the impact of the conflict. Yemen is also a place that imports 90% of its food. So, you know, it is when when there are disruptions to to their ports, it's really having an impact. But then, of course, also this adds now to the choke points that were already there, the Strait of Hormuz, you know, the the escalation in the Black Sea. And now we have the Bab el-Mandeb and the risks related to that. So that is not having an impact only on Sudan. It's certainly all hits a place like Sudan. But it's something that we now see hitting across the world. And so, you know, like I said, what we see at a global level is, on one hand, conflict and that vicious cycle of conflict and hunger driving more people into extreme hunger. We are seeing these three choke points also pushing global hunger. And then, of course, we are frightened what is to come with El Nino. And we are calling, you know, really for preparedness and to take any anticipatory action necessary to prevent that that will add further layer of hunger going forward.

Well, let's go to the screen first and then we'll come back to the room. Nabil, can you hear me? Please go ahead.

Yes. Yes, thank you. Thank you, Carl, and I wish you safe travels. I have three questions. First, what do you think could be done in New York to make your work easier or to facilitate the access of humanitarian aid and humanitarian workers? As we know, the Security Council, for example, is deeply divided on Sudan. Do you think that less weapons on both sides of the conflict would be better for your humanitarian work? And two, what do you think could be done also in New York to facilitate the crossing of your envoys and humanitarian envoys in general? through the fighting lines inside the Sudan? And three, what are you preparing for the high-level week in New York? And what do you hope to achieve this month in the high-level week? Thank you.

So, no, thank you for that. I mean, I think, number one, you know, if I start off, I, I, the, the timing of this is not a coincidence. I wanted to be able to bring to New York, to my conversation with leaders at the events, you know, the direct experience from the, the, the, the front lines in the court of ones and in, into that food. And so that I would be able to, you know, speak with with a lot of credibility on what the situation is like, but also what we are managing to get done when provided the space and the funding to do so. I mean, my appeal number one will clearly be to get an end to this fighting. I mean, there are political processes in the Quad, the National Dialogue. this needs to come together, bring an end to this conflict and provide a path to peace. That will certainly be my number one call. In terms of weapons, this is for the Council to agree upon. I think it's clear that Sudan doesn't need more weapons. What it really needs is food, it's recovery, it is prosperity for the people to rebuild their lives. I think that is clear and I think that's you know would always be our line in Sudan and everywhere where we are operating. I think on the humanitarian space side as I said we are keen to see more cross-line access, we are keen to be able to expand our air service, we are keen to have more presence, permanent presence throughout, but I need to also here recognize that there has been progress. We for example you know months ago there were issues around visas, clearances, now we are now facilitated to work in a better way. There has been progress, and as I said, we are reaching almost 5 million people every month, and we are working in the most difficult areas, including where there is now active fighting in the west and south of Cordovan and in the Blue Nile. So I think, you know, it is important to balance the picture also, because really what's holding us back now is the funding. We want to have better access because it facilitates faster deliveries, it's cheaper deliveries, and we can reach more more people. But it's not like we are not making a difference with the conditions that are already there.

And the GAA, the high-level meeting.

As I know that there are, you know, different Sudan meetings being called, we will try to contribute as much as we can with our frontline humanitarian perspectives to that. And I will certainly be raising the importance of Sudan. I mean, this is, as I said, the largest hunger crisis we have. We are the World Food Programme. You know, this is what we need to bring to the attention of world leaders next week.

Thank you. We'll take a couple of more questions from the room. Dulcie, please go ahead.

Hi, Karl. You look awfully calm after your harrowing trip. But I just wanted to ask you, you said that airlift has improved. Do you mean airlift getting WFP getting around Sudan, or are you talking about air drops of food? And General Burhan, does he have any interest in the humanitarian situation of his people? And the agriculture, what are they growing and can they use their own food to try to, you know, subsist? Thank you.

So, I mean, on your first, what I referred to was really that we've opened a humanitarian air service into Khartoum. And, you know, in the past, we were limited to Port Sudan, and it took us a 13, 14-hour ride in cars to get to Khartoum. Now that it's established as a permanent, you know, it's a regular feature, we're also opening a line now directly from Khartoum to Nairobi. So that improved access and we've all moved our offices back to Khartoum. WFP was among the first to do so and so our office, we are operating out of Khartoum. What I refer to is that we would like to expand that domestic service into other parts. I think someone counted that I did 58 hours in cars on the roads this week. 58 hours, I don't know if It's somewhat of a record in a week, but, you know, that just speaks to this is a big country. Some roads are not accessible. Some roads also are not in great shape. And so being able to expand that air service for goods and for people, we are not looking at airdrops. That's not, you know, the size of this crisis is beyond airdrops for the moment. I think also So that's one. The second, I mean, I didn't have the chance to meet the President this time. Maybe I'll do so during UNGA. But all the authorities that I met with, of course, expressed concern about the humanitarian situation. And we are engaging in sometimes difficult but constructive and productive conversation on how our humanitarian space can be further improved. And as I said, there has been progress. doesn't mean that it's sufficient, but there has been progress, and I think we need to also recognize that. I forgot your last question, sorry.

The agriculture industry, I mean, can these people, you know, use their own farming. There are crops to eat.

Thanks. Yeah, yeah. No, so thank you for that question, because I think that's important as well. I mean, you know, the epicenter of the fighting now is in the West Kordofan, the South Kordofan, and in the Blue Nile. Last year, it was in parts of Darfur, where things have somewhat stabilized. So that's where, when people are newly displaced, where there are massive displacements, there is where we need to provide emergency response, of course. There are other parts where people been returning. Khartoum is a good example. There is more than a million people returning. But there are returns also in other parts that have stabilized. And there, of course, our support needs to be a different kind that helps people rebuild. Like I said, we are providing school meals now. We are also working to promote livelihood so that people can get back and live by their own means in also more of a normalized and dignified way. But then there are parts that are-- and especially some parts which with important agriculture, like in Kassala and Jazira, where we have been promoting and supporting the reestablishment of also of agriculture. And last year, actually, there was a quite good harvest of wheat, for example, where we were able to do some of our procurements even inside Sudan for the emergency assistance that we were delivering in the Darfur at the time, as a way also of injecting money into the agricultural economy. But because when when production increases, prices come down, availability improves. And so with our cash support in other parts, we are able to get further. And I think that's why I'm so worried about the drought now in the in the Darfur, because that's going to hit hard on small and medium sized farmers, which is, you know, a large part of what's keeping people going at the moment. But it's also going to have a hit on farming across, especially if this coincides also now with the lack of fertilizer. And so if production comes down, availability will come down, prices will go up, and those who are already struggling and spending all their money on food, you know, will be eating less.

Thank you, Carl. We'll take one final question. Mona, please go ahead.

Thank you very much, sir. My name is Mona Aoutoul. I'm with Al Quds Al Arabi. I have two questions, please. First on nutrition and hunger. If you could please give us information on what exactly are children receiving through WFP assistance? Are they getting a complete and diverse diet, meaning protein, veggies, fruits, or is the assistance primarily meeting only the minimum caloric needs? That's the first question, and then I'll add the second one later.

No, but so the basic food assistance that we are providing and the cash support is, you know, that's the basics. It's oil, beans, some rice, maybe some sorghum, basic food commodities. But then, of course, you know, we are together with UNICEF supporting thousands of health clinics across that is also helping children who are malnourished. You know, we work on the prevention side. We work with those who are moderately malnourished, and then those who need treatment are supported by the UNICEF programs. You know, I visited some of those clinics in the IDP camps, you know, some 90% of the children that come to those health clinics are malnourished and, you know, and their mothers who are breastfeeding, you could tell also are malnourished. And so they are then supported with these nutrition supplemental commodities that they do for a month and they come back and check and, you know, if things have improved, they may be phased out or if things are still serious, they need to continue. And then there is the health aspect of this that UNICEF is supporting.

Okay. Do you want to do one short follow-up because we have to wrap up. Mr. Skou has to leave. Yes, please, go ahead.

Just one more, please. Is WFP doing any kind of research to evaluate how the lack of nutrition is affecting children's cognitive abilities in school and their academic performance or no?

In Sudan specifically, not that I'm aware, but of course there is a lot of studies done on this. And we know that malnutrition among children impacts their health and and capacity throughout life. That's why it's so important that that is prevented and when detected, quickly treated and dealt with. And so clearly there is a big challenge in Sudan with children now having been out of school first due to COVID, but then more than three years of war. And so UNICEF and other partners are doing heroic work on now supporting efforts to bring kids back to school. And as I said, only in Khartoum area, there are more than a million children who are now returning to school. And we are doing our best to support that by then providing them a meal a day at those schools. And that's something that we would like to expand even further should the funding be available.

I'd like to thank Mr. Koskowi, the acting executive director of the World Food Program. Thank you so much for being with us, and thanks for everybody for being here. Thank you.

Thank you, and thank you for paying attention, and please pass on the message. We need more attention. We need more action to this situation.

Thank you. And Farhan will be with you soon. Thank you so much.

Development's report on the launch of the latest edition of the sending money home report and its key findings. And a reminder that the Secretary General will give a press conference ahead of this year's General Assembly session, and that will be at 11 a.m. on Wednesday in this room. The Secretary General will be arriving soon in New York after leaving the BRICS summit in New Delhi late Sunday. The Secretary General told the 18th BRICS Summit yesterday, the global institutions must be reshaped to reflect today's economic, demographic, and geopolitical realities as the world moves irreversibly towards multipolarity. He called for reform of the United Nations Security Council, the Bretton Woods system, and the international financial architecture, and he urged greater influence for developing countries, stronger multilateral development banks, expanded concessional financing, and effective debt relief. Our institutional structures must reflect the realities of today, he said, stressing that a more