Officials here told us they'd received a telegram that day, advising them of their monthly allocation. 2,500 metric tons. The only problem is, it takes at least two months for the full consignment to arrive. And officials say wearily, the target number of people for this food has reached 300,000, up 50 per cent since the allocations where first agreed. Afder seems to have been struck by a series of problems that leave it in need of everything.
Water is now desperately scarce.
We went to the Weib river, never one to dry up even in the dry season. But it's become a dusty wadi for the first time in living memory. Even camels are said to be too weak at watering holes to move on. The fish are dead. Crocodiles, we were told, had resorted to scaling the river bank in search of goats to eat.