Humanitarian organisa-tions working in Sudan and its neighbouring countries are sounding the alarm that Sudan is on the verge of famine, urg-ing all actors to immediately scale-up efforts to avoid the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. The appeal comes ahead of a humanitarian conference to be hosted in Paris on 15 April by France, the European Union and Germany to help resolve what the UN considers to be “one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history, with potential to trigger the world’s largest hunger emergency.”
The food crisis is a direct consequence of the conflict that broke out on April 15 last year between the two rival generals, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan at the head of the Sudanese regular army (SAF), and Mohamed Dagalo “Hemedti” leading the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Despite General Dagalo announcing his commitment to a ceasefire early in January this year, and a recent United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities, the fighting shows no sign of abating.
Children and women are disproportionately and severely affected by the hunger and malnutrition emergency. Already nearly 4 million children under 5 years old are acutely malnourished. Women and girls are eating less and less nutritious foods than men and boys. Approximately 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women face acute malnutrition. As the food security situation worsens women also face sexual violence, including rape, said Sofia Sprechmann Sineiro, Secretary-General of CARE International.
With over 70% of health facilities shut down in conflict areas dropping child-vaccination coverage, limited access to services and looming disease outbreaks compound the threats faced by these highly vulnerable groups.
Furthermore the conflict has serioulsy affected Sudan’s education system: 19 million Sudanese children are out of school, said Eatizaz Yousif, Sudan Country Director of the International Red Cross (IRC)