Sudan caught in a vice of “violence and famine”, according to the UN

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The Sudanese people "are trapped in a hell of brutal violence" with famine, disease and fighting approaching and with no end in sight, the UN's top humanitarian official said on Wednesday. country ravaged by war.

Clementine Nkweta-Salami told a UN press conference that "horrific atrocities are being committed with reckless abandon, reports of rape, torture and ethnically motivated violence are pouring in" , that communities and Families have been torn apart and nearly 9 million people have been forced to flee their homes in what is now the world's largest displacement crisis .

Earlier this month, the United Nations food agency warned Sudan's warring parties that there was a serious risk of famine and death in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan if they did not allow the entry of humanitarian aid. in the vast western region, a point of view echoed on Wednesday by Mr. Nkweta-Salami.

Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between the army led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan and rapid support paramilitary forces commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo erupted into street battles in the capital, Khartoum. Fighting has spread to other parts of the country, particularly urban areas and the vast West Darfur region , and the UN estimates that more than 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.

El Fasher

Paramilitary forces have taken control of most of Darfur and are besieging the key town of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the only capital they do not hold.

Nkweta-Salami told a UN news conference that hostilities in El Fasher were escalating and that clashes over the weekend and earlier this week had left dozens of victims and displaced a large number of people. number of the 800,000 people who still live in the city.

She said there were only six weeks left before the start of the "hunger period" , during which food becomes less available and more expensive. This period also coincides with the rainy season , when it is very difficult to reach people because waterlogged roads become impassable, and with the end of the planting season, when the UN must provide seeds to farmers.

The UN humanitarian coordinator for Sudan called for "more funds and quickly" .

On April 15, donors pledged $2.1 billion in humanitarian aid to Sudan, but Nkweta-Salami said the UN humanitarian appeal of $2.7 billion intended to help nearly 15 million of the country's 58 million inhabitants, was only 12% funded.

“Without additional resources, we will not be able to increase aid in time to avoid famine and other deprivations ,” she warned.

Widespread famine

Leni Kinzli, regional spokesperson for the United Nations World Food Program , said on May 3 that at least 1.7 million people in Darfur were experiencing emergency levels of hunger in Sudan in December, and that this number should be "much higher" today.

"People are reduced to eating grass and peanut shells ," Mr. Kinzli said. “If aid does not reach them quickly, we risk seeing widespread famine and deaths in Darfur and other conflict-affected areas of Sudan.”

Ms Nkweta-Salami demanded unhindered access to millions of people in need, urging that aid be delivered from Chad , which borders Darfur, and across conflict lines.

She said food, water and medicine are critically lacking in El Fasher, which is now completely surrounded. To illustrate the difficulties faced by the UN and other aid agencies, she said a UN convoy of more than a dozen trucks carrying essential supplies for 120,000 people had left Port Sudan on April 3 but had still not reached El Fasher due to insecurity, checkpoints and delays in obtaining authorizations.

Mr Nkweta-Salami urged parties engaged in fighting in and around El Fasher to step back to avoid what would be "a catastrophic impact on the civilian population" .

“And above all, we need more commitment to end this war” and to hold parties to the conflict accountable, she said. “The international community cannot stand idly by as this crisis spirals out of control and the grip of this conflict tightens on the civilian population.”