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At least 25 million people face food insecurity due to the warring generals, and the humanitarian response has reached “breaking point”.
A war in Sudan could cause “the world’s biggest hunger crisis”, a United Nations agency has warned.
More than 25 million people across Sudan, South Sudan and Chad are trapped in a “spiral” of food insecurity, the World Food Program (WFP) said on Wednesday. However, the brutal civil war shows no signs of abating even after 10 months of fighting.
“Relentless violence” is preventing aid workers from accessing 90 percent of people facing “emergency levels of hunger,” WFP added.
As long as the fight doesn’t stop, #Sudanwar threatens to become the world’s biggest hunger crisis. @WFPChief warns.
Currently, 90% of Sudan’s people facing emergency levels of hunger are stranded in areas that WFP has little access to.
— World Food Program (@WFP) March 6, 2024
“Millions of lives and peace and stability across the region are at stake,” WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said at the end of her visit to South Sudan.
Two decades after the world rallied to respond to famine in Darfur, the people of Sudan have been “forgotten,” she said.
In crowded transit camps in South Sudan, where some 600,000 people have fled Sudan, “families are arriving hungry and facing further hunger,” WFP said. It added that one in five children crossing borders is malnourished.
Currently, only 5 percent of Sudan’s population “can afford to eat a decent meal a day,” the UN agency reported.
‘Breaking point’
A brutal civil war between rival government factions broke out in Sudan in April 2023. The conflict has resulted in a standoff between military commander Abdul Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedi” Dagalo, who now commands the militia Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Ten people died. Thousands of people destroyed infrastructure and crippled Sudan’s economy.
Additionally, more than 8 million people were forced to flee their homes. Two million people were forced to flee their homes before the fighting broke out, and Sudan is already facing the world’s largest displacement crisis.
Both the RSF and the military have been accused of indiscriminate shelling of residential areas targeting civilians and of obstructing and depriving essential aid.
WFP has warned that the humanitarian response has reached “breaking point” and will continue to do so unless the violence stops.
“Ultimately, a cessation of hostilities and lasting peace is the only way to reverse course and prevent catastrophe,” the ministry said.
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