HQ Team
May 31, 2024: Eighteen million people are “acutely” hungry in conflict-ridden Sudan as a famine is on the horizon and 800,000 civilians get ready for large-scale attacks in Al Bashir, the capital of north Darfur, according to the WHO.
“Time is running out for millions of people in Sudan who are at imminent risk of famine, displaced from their lands, living under bombardments, and cut off from humanitarian assistance,” according to an e-mailed statement from the World Health Organization.
Tensions rose on April 15, 2023, when violent clashes erupted between the two warring factions in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. Sudan borders the Red Sea, the Sahel region, and the Horn of Africa.
The Sudanese armed forces, loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, are fighting with a collection of militia, the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), under the former warlord Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.
About 3.6 million children have been “acutely malnourished,” according to the WHO statement. “Horrific attacks against civilians – including sexual violence – as well as hospitals and schools are multiplying.”
In Al Fashir, more than 800,000 civilians are bracing for an imminent large-scale attack, which would unleash catastrophic humanitarian consequences both in the city and across Darfur, according to the WHO.
Despite dire needs, aid workers continue to face systematic obstructions and deliberate denials of access by parties to the conflict. Movements across conflict lines to parts of Khartoum, Darfur, Aj Jazirah and Kordofan have been all but cut off since mid-December.
The closure of the Adre border crossing in February, WHO’s main route into western Sudan from Chad – meat limited assistance was trickling into Darfur. Aid workers are being killed, injured and harassed, and humanitarian supplies are being looted.
In March and April of this year, nearly 860,000 people were denied humanitarian aid in Kordofan, Darfur and Khartoum states, according to the statement.
“Extreme hunger is unfolding, and the outlook for food production in 2024 is bleak. We have a rapidly shrinking window to get seeds to farmers before the main planting season ends and the rainy season begins. If we act in time, people – especially those in inaccessible areas – will be able to produce food locally and avert food shortages in the next six months.”
The WHO stated it had limited support from donors. Nearly five months into the year — and six weeks after the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and its Neighbours in Paris on 15 April — the global health agency received just 16% of the $2.7 billion needed.
“The clock is ticking. The choice is clear.”
