Middle East conflict having ‘massive global impact’ on food security, warns senior WFP official

• Middle East war is putting additional pressures with more people being pushed into hunger, says WFP's deputy executive director and chief operating officer

The war in the Middle East is having "a massive global impact" on food security, driving a sharp rise in global hunger and placing millions more at risk, a senior World Food Program official (WFP) has warned.

"The war in the Middle East is putting additional pressures, with more people being pushed into hunger ... especially in developing countries," Carl Skau, the deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the WFP, told Anadolu at the sidelines of Antalya Diplomacy Forum.

Skau said that the costs of their operations were going up, and there were huge delays in their supplies across the world, with the organization and the entire world under a lot of pressure.

"Our estimates are that if this war continues into July with oil prices above $100 a barrel, some 45 million additional people will be pushed into acute hunger," he said.

He noted that most affected would be the "poorest of the poor," including those in Sahel, sub-Saharan Africa, and pockets of Asia and Latin America would also be hit harder.

Sudan war

Skau highlighted the ongoing food crisis in Sudan, noting that there was more donor attention to some events than others.

"We need more resources, more attention to be able to face what is the largest food crisis in the world at the moment."

Regarding looting incidents at WFP's offices in Sudan, he said humanitarian assets and locations should never be a target.

"Our greatest focus right now is trying to support the people who had to flee in Fasher. In Tawila, we know we have 700,000 people in a massive camp that is not receiving even the basic assistance."

The WFP official noted that people stuck in the middle of the fighting in the middle of Kordofan are also their main focus.

He said that where resources are available, they want to be supportive of the areas where there is a possibility for people to return and recovery, including providing school meals when schools are back and open.

Gaza crisis

Skau said that there has been no progress on the "dual use" items with the Israelis.

He, however, pointed out that the WFP is helping 1.6 million people in Gaza every month, with access facilitated for basic food commodities.

"So when it comes to facilitating food aid, that is happening, that is working. But of course, we would like to move beyond that. We would like to contribute to their recovery, to their construction of Gaza."

Funding cuts

The WFP official noted how funding shortages and cuts in foreign assistance are having a direct impact on their life-saving work.

"When we cut food assistance to children in Afghanistan, they (are at) risk of dying," said Skau.

The official said that he met with the Somali foreign minister at the forum, whose country has had two consecutive droughts.

"They're heading towards a major hunger disaster. And we don't have the funding to prevent that," he said, adding that they have data, the capacity and the experience to do so.

Skau called the forum a moment of truth for the international community, with so many different actors are coming together.

“One of our main topics is trying to find the space to do work where it's complicated, and (to) mobilize funding. Those are the two main tasks for me here and every day.”

* Writing by Rabia Ali