MCC shipping 4,000 tons of wheat to Darfur

Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is shipping 4,000 metric tons of wheat to Sudan as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises continues in the country’s Darfur region.

Fighting continues in Darfur, where a civil war erupted three years ago, despite a peace agreement between the government and one rebel faction in May. Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the conflict and about 2 million have been displaced into camps.

William Reimer, MCC’s director for food, disaster, and material resources, visited Darfur in July and says that the region’s civilians are in greater danger than ever.

In partnership with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, MCC is providing the wheat to the United Nations World Food Program for distribution in Sudan, with about 70 percent going to Darfur.

“The U.N. is out of food as of December, so this shipment is timely,” Reimer says.

MCC is also sponsoring trauma healing work in displacement camps in Darfur and is preparing to support conflict mediation work between community leaders.

—MCC News