UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 : The United Nations Monday launched an appeal for $6 billion to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan as famine take hold in the devastated country.<\/p>\n
\u201cCivilians [are] paying the highest price, shelling, air strikes [are] continuing unabated, killing and injuring civilians, damaging and destroying critical infrastructure, including hospitals,\u201d UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletchermsaid in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn epidemic of sexual violence rages,\u201d he warned, adding that children are being killed and injured, amid reports of intensifying fighting in South Kordofan in recent weeks \u2013 \u201canother state in which famine conditions have recently been confirmed\u201d.<\/p>\n
Speaking in Geneva, Fletcher explained that the UN 2025 humanitarian and refugee response plans for Sudan aim to assist nearly 26 million people inside the country and across the region who face a desperate situation.<\/p>\n
After nearly two years of conflict, a staggering 12 million people in Sudan and across borders have been displaced.<\/p>\n
The UN aid chief said that he welcomed a conversation just days ago with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan \u2013 leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces \u2013 \u201cabout the importance of keeping Adre crossing open [from Chad]. But this is a fraction of what is needed and each movement only happens after complex engagement and bureaucratic processes,\u201d he stressed.<\/p>\n
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), famine has been confirmed in more than 10 locations in Sudan; another 17 are on the brink of famine.<\/p>\n
The situation is a \u201ccollective failure that shames the global community\u201d, WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain told the Geneva meeting via video link.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a full-scale hunger crisis and I\u2019m going to call it a catastrophe\u201d, Ms. McCain continued. \u201cThe civil war has killed thousands, uprooted millions and set the country ablaze, and yet it\u2019s forgotten,\u201d despite being \u201cthe epicentre of the world\u2019s largest and most severe hunger crisis ever\u201d.<\/p>\n
Highlighting the fact that Sudan is also the world\u2019s biggest displacement emergency, UN refugee agency chief (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, condemned the continuing \u201cmilitary logic\u201d of the rival armies that have waged war against each other since April 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe logic is, let\u2019s achieve victory, let\u2019s make advances, let\u2019s progress militarily,\u201d he said, referring to the Sudanese Armed Forces \u2013 led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan \u2013 and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe logic continues to neglect the situation of ordinary Sudanese that are killed, displaced and suffer all sorts of hardship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Echoing Fletcher\u2019s observation that it might be difficult to understand why the UN and its partners were issuing such a large appeal for funding at a time of deep cuts to overseas aid by UN Member States, the UN refugee agency chief explained that needs were immense, with one in three Sudanese uprooted by the violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cSocial systems, health systems, education \u2013 kids haven\u2019t gone to school, almost 13 million people are displaced,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe country is being destroyed; at its foundations, everything is collapsing,\u201d Mr. Grandi insisted, in an appeal to the international community to \u201cstep up and help\u201d, not just to ensure that emergency aid and life-saving protection can continue without disruption, but also to end the violence and restore peace to Sudan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across Sudan, women and girls continue to suffer through appalling patterns of conflict-related sexual violence,\u201d and young men have been forcibly recruited to fight, Fletcher noted. \u201cThe collapse of the education system has compounded the risks faced by Sudanese girls: child marriage, gender-based violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although access \u201cremains heavily constrained, particularly where the fighting is most acute\u201d, the UN relief chief insisted that the appeal offered \u201ca lifeline to millions\u201d once the fighting stops, as he appealed for better access \u201cby land, sea and air to those who need help\u201d.<\/p>\n
WFP chief Ms. McCain explained that millions of civilians had lost their livelihoods while humanitarians struggled to reach those in need because of access restrictions.<\/p>\n
Agricultural production has also been decimated, driving up prices by 500 per cent in some areas, resulting in millions of displaced who have no access basic food staples.<\/p>\n
With $1.8 billion in support last year, humanitarian organizations reached more than 15.6 million people across Sudan. Assistance included food and livelihoods support for more than 13 million people as well as water, sanitation and hygiene support, health and nutrition, and shelter assistance.<\/p>\n
Humanitarian organizations working in neighbouring countries provided lifesaving assistance delivering food to over a million people, medical support to half a million and protection services to over 800,000.<\/p>\n
For its part, WFP reached more than eight million people with lifesaving aid in 2024 but continues to face widespread access constraints caused by the fighting.<\/p>\n
Famine conditions have been reported in at least five locations in Sudan including displacement camps in Darfur and in the western Nuba Mountains, according to a joint press release from the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, and UNHCR.<\/p>\n
\u201cCatastrophic hunger is expected to worsen by May when the lean season begins. With continued fighting and basic services having collapsed across most of the country, the crisis is set to get worse,\u201d it noted.<\/p>\n
Shaza Ahmed, Executive Director of Nada El Azhar \u2013 who is a gender based violence (GBV) coordinator in Sudan \u2013 said that \u201cwomen and girls paid a hefty price, as GBV is used as a weapon of war\u201d, compounding a lack of access to health services, education and employment.<\/p>\n
In 2024, more than 50,000 of the most vulnerable women and girls received dignity kids and over 225,000 people received GBV-services such as mental health or psychological support.<\/p>\n
Among the biggest challenges now are protection of female staff and access to communities as well as the overall funding crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 18 : The United Nations Monday launched an appeal for $6 billion to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan as famine take hold in the devastated country. \u201cCivilians [are] paying the highest price, shelling, air strikes [are] continuing unabated, killing and injuring […]<\/p>\n
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