Sudan government rejects UN-backed famine declaration

LONDON: The Jordanian Ministry of Health announced that nine people died and 27 others were hospitalized this week due to poisoning after consuming alcoholic drinks contaminated with methanol.

The affected individuals are currently receiving intensive medical treatment, including dialysis to remove the toxic substance from their bloodstream, at hospitals in Zarqa, Amman and Balqa, Director of the Technical Affairs Department at the Ministry Imad Abu Yaqeen told Petra news agency.

Most patients were in a critical condition, he said, with some requiring ventilator support in intensive care units. Methanol, a highly toxic substance, is not intended for oral consumption and is used as a solvent in paints and as a fuel additive.

Abu Yaqeen said that dialysis remained the most crucial life-saving measure, along with ventilator support. However, these interventions might be less effective if significant amounts of methanol were ingested, he added.

He said that the first cases reported over the weekend were at Zarqa Government Hospital, and the ministry is continuing to enhance preparedness in the emergency and ambulance departments to handle any new cases.

On Monday, Jordan's Public Security Directorate, or PSD, arrested several individuals suspected of producing toxic alcoholic beverages using industrial methanol.

The PSD raided a factory where suspects purchased methyl alcohol and used it to manufacture illicit alcoholic beverages, as well as a warehouse that supplied the substance to the market. Additionally, authorities seized large quantities of alcohol from stores that the factory produced.

GENEVA: Food aid to help Sudanese refugees in four neighboring countries could end within the next couple of months without an urgent injection of new funding, a World Food Programme official said on Tuesday, warning of rising malnutrition levels.

Over 4 million refugees have fled Sudan’s more than two-year civil war to seven neighboring countries where shelter conditions are widely viewed as inadequate due to chronic funding shortages.

“Unless new funding is secured, all refugees will face assistance cuts in the coming months,” Shaun Hughes, the WFP’s emergency coordinator for the Sudan regional crisis, told a Geneva press briefing, calling for $200 million over six months.

“In the case of four countries — that’s the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya — WFP’s operations are now so severely underfunded, that all support could cease in the coming months as resources run dry,” he said, clarifying later that this could happen within two months.

Many of those fleeing are escaping from hunger hot spots in Sudan. A joint UN report said last month the country was at immediate risk of famine.

Hughes said that any reduction or end to rations would leave child refugees at a greater risk of malnutrition.

Asked why the funding had fallen, he cited reductions from donors across the board and rising humanitarian needs.

He added that the United States, which has reduced its foreign aid spending dramatically under President Donald Trump, remained its top donor for Sudan.