NAIROBI/CAIRO, Aug 28 (Reuters) – The United Nations World Food Programme is investigating two of its top officials in Sudan on charges including fraud and concealing information from donors about its ability to deliver food aid to civilians during the country’s severe hunger crisis, according to 11 people familiar with the investigation.
The investigation by the WFP’s Office of the Inspector General comes as the UN food aid agency is struggling to feed millions of people in war-torn Sudan, which is currently suffering one of the world’s worst food shortages in years.
As part of the investigation, investigators are looking into whether WFP staff tried to cover up the Sudanese army’s alleged role in obstructing aid deliveries while the country has been locked in a brutal 16-month war with a rival paramilitary group for control of the country, according to five sources who spoke to Reuters.
One of those targeted by the investigation is WFP Deputy Country Director in Sudan Khalid Osman. According to six sources, he has been assigned to “temporary duty” outside Sudan, which amounts to a de facto suspension.
A second senior official, WFP area director Mohammed Ali, is under investigation in connection with the alleged disappearance of more than 200,000 liters of the UN agency’s fuel in the Sudanese town of Kosti, four sources said. Reuters could not confirm whether Ali remains in his post.
When contacted by Reuters, Osman and Ali declined to comment and referred the news agency to the WFP media office.
In response to a Reuters query about the investigation, the WFP said that “allegations of individual misconduct related to irregularities in some of our operations in Sudan” were being urgently investigated by the Office of the Inspector General. It declined to comment on the nature of the alleged misconduct or the status of specific staff members.
The U.S. government aid agency USAID told Reuters in a statement that it was notified by the WFP on August 20 of “potential fraud affecting WFP operations in Sudan.” USAID says it is WFP’s largest single donor, providing nearly half of all contributions in a typical year.
“These allegations are deeply concerning and must be thoroughly investigated,” the USAID statement said. “USAID has immediately referred these allegations to the USAID Office of the Inspector General.”
The investigation comes at a critical time for the WFP, which describes itself as the world’s largest humanitarian organization and was awarded the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize for its role in fighting hunger and promoting peace.
WFP is fighting severe hunger on many fronts. It needs $22.7 billion in aid to reach 157 million people, including 1.3 million on the brink of famine, mainly in Sudan and Gaza, but also in countries such as South Sudan and Mali. In addition to food distribution, WFP also coordinates and provides logistical support to the humanitarian community in major emergencies around the world.
More than half a dozen humanitarian workers and diplomats told Reuters they feared that mismanagement at the WFP’s Sudan office may have contributed to the lack of aid during the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which has been raging for more than 16 months.
The WFP investigation comes weeks after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an international technical group that measures hunger, found that at least one area in Sudan’s Darfur region was at risk of famine. The IPC has classified 13 other areas across the country as at risk of famine. More than 25 million people, or more than half of Sudan’s population, are at risk of famine or worse.
Article 1 of 4 A volunteer distributes food to people in Omdurman, Sudan, September 3, 2023. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig/File Photo
Aid workers say they are struggling to deliver the supplies, partly due to logistical constraints and fighting. But they also claim that army-linked authorities have hampered access by denying travel permits and clearances, while RSF troops have looted supplies. Both groups deny obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid.
A focus of the investigation is suspicions that senior WFP officials in Sudan may have misled donors, including UN Security Council members, by downplaying the alleged role of the Sudanese army in blocking aid deliveries to RSF-controlled areas, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter.
In one case in June 2024, two people with knowledge of the investigation said, WFP Deputy Country Director Osman concealed from donors that army-allied authorities in Port Sudan had denied permission for 15 trucks to transport life-saving aid to Nyala in South Darfur, an area home to communities threatened by famine. The trucks waited seven weeks before finally being granted permission to proceed.
Osman, who was promoted unusually quickly in the WFP’s Sudan office, had high-level ties to the army, according to eight sources. He controlled which WFP colleagues received visas to enter Sudan, allowing him to limit the army’s access and control over the administration of aid, say three people familiar with the system.
Reuters could not independently confirm the allegations against Osman, nor the possible motives for his misleading donors.
In its written response to Reuters, the WFP said it had taken “swift action” to step up its work in Sudan because the humanitarian challenge was so great and the IPC had confirmed famine in Darfur. “WFP has taken immediate staffing measures to ensure the integrity and continuity of our life-saving operations,” it added.
The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023. It has displaced more than 10 million people from their homes and triggered the world’s largest internal displacement crisis. It has also exacerbated hunger, increased severe acute malnutrition among children, and caused outbreaks of diseases such as cholera. The United States and human rights groups have accused both sides of war crimes, which the fighters deny.
UN agencies are operating from Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, where the army-allied government moved after losing control of most of the capital Khartoum at the start of the war.
The WFP and other UN agencies complain that the lack of access contributes to their inability to reach people in need, especially in RSF-controlled areas such as Khartoum and the Darfur and Kordofan regions. However, the aid agencies largely avoid publicly blaming either side of the conflict.
When asked to comment on the military’s role in the hunger crisis, Sudanese Armed Forces spokesman Nabil Abdallah said the army was doing everything in its power to provide assistance and “alleviate the suffering of our people.”
In response to questions, an RSF spokesman said the investigation was a good step and should cover all humanitarian aid.
On August 1, the IPC Famine Review Committee stated that the war and subsequent restrictions on aid supplies were the main cause of the food crisis in Sudan.
Some aid officials said they were afraid to assign blame in public statements because they feared the army would drive them out of Port Sudan and they would lose access to army-controlled areas where there is acute hunger.
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Reporting by Giulia Paravicini and Maggie Michael. Editing by Aidan Lewis.
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