The first batch of humanitarian assistance from the World Food Programme (WFP) and its partners has arrived in Central and West Darfur states.

The aid arrived on Tuesday through the Chadian border crossing.

The assistance includes maize, rice, oil, lentils, salt, and therapeutic biscuits and targets the areas of El Geneina, Sirba, Um Shalaya, and Rongatas.

In a statement extended to Radio Tamazuj Thursday, the El Geneina Emergency Room warned of the humanitarian crisis in the Sirba area, where returnees from displacement camps resort to eating peanut waste and chewing tree bark to survive.

Abubakr Adam Yahya, the Emergency Coordinator at the Humanitarian Aid Commission, reported the arrival of 37 trucks loaded with relief items distributed to several localities.

He stated, "Today (Tuesday), the first convoy of food aid arrived from some international and local organizations, including 19 trucks for El Geneina locality and its administrative units (Ardamata and Um Duwain), and four trucks for West Darfur State, Rongatas area, and eleven trucks for Um Shalaya area, in addition to three trucks for the Sirba locality."

Abubakr urged international actors to provide more aid due to the surveys conducted by the organizations to stop the spectre of famine that has loomed over the region.

The army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) began battling each other in mid-April last year as tensions over plans for a new political transition.

The conflict has driven nearly 8.5 million people from their homes, creating the world's biggest displacement crisis, pushed parts of the 49-million population close to famine, and triggered waves of ethnically driven killings and sexual violence in the western region of Darfur.