There is a risk of famine in 14 regions of Sudan amid ongoing fighting
According to the latest United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative, more than half the population in Sudan – 25.6 million people – face a “crisis” situation. or worse” (Phase 3 and beyond) from now until September 2024 – coinciding with the famine season.
Worse still, 755,000 people face a “disaster” situation (Phase 5) in 10 states, including the five Greater Darfur states, as well as South and North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Al Jazirah and Khartoum, while the entire About 8.5 million people – 18 percent of the population – are currently experiencing “Emergency” (Phase 4) food insecurity.
Generals go to war
In the more than 14 months since rival armies, the Sudanese Armed Forces and Support Forces have rapidly unleashed their heavy arsenals amid rising tensions over the transition to civilian rule. , the United Nations has repeatedly called for a ceasefire, as the country’s capital. Khartoum, has become a battleground and amid concerns about brutality in Darfurs.
And despite multiple calls for a ceasefire from Generals Abdel-Fattah Burhan – head of the Sudanese army and Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo – head of the Rapid Support Forces – senior UN humanitarians have given call for a ceasefire. warns that the situation is only getting worse.
“We received reports of people eating leaves; One mother cooked dirt just to put something in her baby’s stomach, said Justin Brady, head of the United Nations emergency relief agency.OCHA) in Sudan, in a interview with UN News.
Conflict leaves country reeling
The risk of famine threatens residents, those displaced by war and refugees in no less than 14 areas including Greater Darfur, Greater Kordofan, Al Jazirah states and hotspots in Khartoum “if the conflict continues to escalate, including through increased mobilization of local militias further disrupting movement, humanitarian assistance, markets and livelihoods,” The IPC assessment warned.
Call to action by the head of the UN agency
Responding to the IPC’s findings, three heads of UN agencies warned that a looming famine disaster was looming “on a scale not seen since the Darfur crisis of the early 2000s”. – refers to years of brutal fighting and increasing crime there that have left some 300,000 people dead and millions more displaced.
Unlike the Darfur crisis then, today’s emergency is spreading across the country, with catastrophic levels of famine even reaching the capital Khartoum and Gezira state, once Sudan’s breadbasket.
Struggling to make ends meet every day
In a warning, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Program (WFP)
say “For half of Sudan’s war-torn population, every day is a struggle to feed themselves and their families.”
The agency heads emphasized that this is the first time that catastrophic/Phase 5 conditions have been confirmed in Sudan since the IPC’s establishment in 2004, while children have suffered the consequences of “the “Rapid deterioration” in food security has been “torn apart” by 14 months of war between rival armies.
These three agencies have repeatedly warned of the crisis and have mobilized a large-scale humanitarian response in Sudan and neighboring countries, where more than two million refugees are seeking safety.
End of the war
“An immediate ceasefire and renewed international efforts – both diplomatic and financial – as well as unhindered and sustained humanitarian access, are urgently needed,” they stressed. allowing humanitarian response activities to be expanded further and allowing agencies to proceed with the necessary speed.” .
This new data shows a sharp deterioration in the food security situation in Sudan compared to the IPC’s most recent report in December 2023, which found that 17.7 million people face acute hunger (IPC Phase 3+).
This includes almost five million people at emergency hunger levels (IPC Phase 4) while today’s assessment shows that number has increased to 8.5 million.
“New IPC analysis shows that the food security situation in Sudan is rapidly deteriorating, with millions of lives at risk,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu. “We are currently providing life-saving seeds for the main planting season. The clock is ticking for Sudanese farmers. FAO urgently requests $60 million to meet unfunded parts of the Plan to Stop Famine to ensure that people – especially those in hard-to-reach areas – can produce food locally and prevent food shortages in the next six months.”
“We must act collectively, on a massive scale, with unhindered access, for the benefit of millions of innocent lives at stake,” he added.
