UN says 5 million people in Sudan are at risk of hunger

The United Nations on Friday called on Sudan’s warring parties to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to combat looming catastrophic hunger.

Some 5 million Sudanese may face catastrophic food insecurity in the coming months as a nearly year-long war between rival generals continues to divide the country, a United Nations document seen by AFP on Friday showed.

The war between army chief Abdel Fattah Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has killed tens of thousands of people since April last year. People died, infrastructure was destroyed, and the economy was paralyzed.

It has also triggered a severe humanitarian crisis and severe food shortages, bringing the country to the brink of famine.

In a letter to the Security Council, UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths warned that 18 million Sudanese are facing severe food insecurity – a record high during the harvest season, “and in some parts of the country , nearly 5 million people may fall into catastrophic food insecurity.” in the coming months. “

He noted that nearly 730,000 Sudanese children, including 240,000 in Darfur, are believed to be severely malnourished.

“Aid organizations need safe, fast, sustained and unimpeded assistance, including across conflict lines in Sudan,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. “From the international community Mobilizing resources at scale is also critical.”

The United Nations World Food Program warned that the war had the potential to “trigger the world’s largest hunger crisis.”

Jill Lawler, UNICEF’s emergency chief in Sudan, said there is enough aid in Port Sudan, but the problem is how to get it from there to those in need.

Lawler said she arrived in Khartoum state last week with the first U.N. mission since the war began 11 months ago.

She told reporters in Geneva via video link from New York that they had witnessed “the scale and extent of the needs of children across the country that are simply shocking”.

The war “was pushing the country toward famine,” and hunger was “people’s greatest concern.”

Mandeep O’Brien, UNICEF representative in Sudan, said that 14 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance and 4 million are displaced.

She warned on X (formerly Twitter) that “there is only a small window of opportunity left to prevent the massive loss of children’s lives and futures”.

World Health Organization regional director Hanan Barki, who recently returned from Sudan, highlighted the urgent needs in Darfur, saying most health facilities had been looted, vandalized or destroyed.

U.N. aid chief Griffiths lamented that fighting continues during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan despite Security Council resolutions calling for a cessation of hostilities.

“This is a critical moment. All parties must silence the guns, protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access,” he wrote on X.

The United Nations on Friday called for more financial support for aid operations in Sudan.

U.N. spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci told reporters in Geneva that the agency had appealed for $2.7 billion in aid this year but had received only 5% of that amount so far.