Sudan is on course to become the world’s worst hunger crisis, with children already dying, UN says

UNITED NATIONS — The nearly year-long conflict between Sudan’s military and paramilitary forces has put the African country on course to become the world’s worst hunger crisis, with malnutrition soaring and already claiming children’s lives, the UN humanitarian agency warned on Wednesday.

Edem Wosornu, the director of humanitarian operations, told the UN Security Council that already a third of Sudan’s population – 18 million people – are facing acute food insecurity, and that by then some areas of the western Darfur region could reach catastrophic levels of hunger. are being reached. “the lean season” arrives in May.

“A recent study found that a child dies every two hours in the Zamzam camp in El Fasher, North Darfur,” she said. “Our humanitarian partners estimate that approximately 222,000 children could die from malnutrition somewhere in the region in the coming weeks and months.”

Wosornu called the dire situation of violence, which includes horrific stories of ethnic attacks, sexual violence, including gang rape, and random attacks in densely populated areas, “the stuff of nightmares.”

With the global spotlight now on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and, to a lesser extent, the war in Ukraine, she lamented that “a humanitarian travesty is playing out in Sudan under a veil of international inattention and passivity.”

Sudan plunged into chaos last April when long-simmering tensions between the army led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo erupted into street fighting in the capital Khartoum.

The fighting quickly spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas, but in Darfur it took a different form, with brutal attacks by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces on ethnic African civilians. Thousands of people have been killed.

Twenty years ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, especially by the infamous Arab Janjaweed militias against populations who identify as Central or East African. In late January, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan said there are reasons to believe that both sides in the current conflict are committing possible war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.

The UN’s Wosornu said there was no respite from heavy fighting in Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan, home to 90% of people facing emergency levels of food insecurity.

Farmers have been forced to leave their fields and grain production has fallen since hostilities entered Sudan’s breadbasket, Jazeera state, in December, she said.

Under these circumstances, the delivery of humanitarian aid should be a lifeline, Wosornu said, but the UN is calling for $2.7 billion for Sudan, of which less than 5% is funded – receiving only $131 million.

She expressed hope that a high-level donor conference for Sudan and its neighbors in Paris on April 15 will lead to “tangible commitments” to support aid operations “in the face of the looming famine.”

In addition, Wosornu said, the UN must have access to reach the most vulnerable people in the states of Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan and Jazeera, who are “still severely hampered” by the fighting. More cross-border openings and approvals are also needed to provide assistance across conflict lines, she said.

Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the UN World Food Programme, told the council that the rapidly deteriorating food security situation in Sudan also has “profound regional implications”.

In addition to the 18 million people in Sudan facing acute food insecurity, he said, seven million people in neighboring South Sudan and almost three million people in Chad, which borders Darfur, also face severe hunger.

Currently, Skau says, 90% of people who are one step away from catastrophic levels of food security and in urgent need of life-saving food are “stuck in areas largely inaccessible to humanitarian organizations,” including Khartoum, Jazeera, Kordofan and Darfur. .

“If we are to prevent Sudan from becoming the world’s worst hunger crisis, coordinated efforts and joint diplomacy are urgent and critical,” he said. “We need all parties to provide unrestricted access: across borders and lines of conflict.”

Echoing Wosornu’s call for funding, he said WFP had to cut aid to 3 million people facing acute hunger in South Sudan and cut rations for others in need due to a lack of funds. And in Chad, he said, WFP will have to end aid to 1.2 million refugees and almost 3 million Chadians.

Skau expressed concern that hunger will increase further as Sudan’s lean season arrives and could lead to catastrophic food insecurity unless there is sustainable access and resources.

Rein Paulsen, director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience, told a news conference that a report on Sudan released on Tuesday shows the damage of the conflict to agricultural production: grain production fell by 46% in 2023 compared to 2022, and up to 80 % lower than in 2022. areas where conflict was most intense.

“The outlook for food production in 2024 is bleak,” he said.