“Sudan on Brink of World’s Worst Hunger Crisis, UN Warns Amid Conflict”

CNTLIVE AUDIO

"Sudan on Brink of World's Worst Hunger Crisis, UN Warns Amid Conflict"

Play Episode Pause Episode

Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds 1x Fast Forward 30 seconds

00:00 / 3:07

Acast YouTube

RSS Feed

Share

Link

Embed

The nearly year-long conflict between Sudan’s military and paramilitary forces has propelled the African nation toward the brink of the world’s worst hunger crisis, with malnutrition rates soaring and claiming the lives of children, the U.N. humanitarian office warned on Wednesday.

Edem Wosornu, the director of humanitarian operations, informed the U.N. Security Council that a staggering one-third of Sudan’s population—18 million people—are currently grappling with acute food insecurity. She cautioned that catastrophic hunger levels could be reached in certain areas of the western Darfur region by the onset of the lean season in May.

Wosornu highlighted the dire situation, revealing that one child perishes every two hours in Zamzam camp in El Fasher, North Darfur. She further noted that humanitarian partners estimate that approximately 222,000 children could succumb to malnutrition in the coming weeks and months.

The ongoing violence has been marked by disturbing accounts of ethnic-based attacks, sexual violence including gang rapes, and indiscriminate assaults in densely populated areas, prompting Wosornu to describe the situation as “the stuff of nightmares.”

Despite the current global attention on conflicts such as the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza and, to a lesser extent, the conflict in Ukraine, Wosornu lamented the lack of international focus on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan.

Sudan plunged into chaos last April, when long-standing tensions between its military led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo erupted into street battles in the capital, Khartoum. The conflict swiftly spread across the country, with Darfur witnessing brutal attacks by the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces on ethnic African civilians, reminiscent of the atrocities committed by Janjaweed Arab militias two decades ago.

The U.N. has called for urgent funding and access to humanitarian aid to address the crisis, as less than 5% of the U.N.’s $2.7 billion appeal for Sudan has been funded, receiving just $131 million. The delivery of humanitarian aid has been severely obstructed by the ongoing fighting, necessitating cross-border openings and approvals to reach the most vulnerable populations.

The rapidly deteriorating food security situation in Sudan has profound regional implications, with millions of people in neighboring South Sudan and Chad also facing dire hunger. Without coordinated efforts and unrestricted access to deliver aid across conflict lines, Sudan risks descending into the world’s largest hunger crisis, warned U.N. officials.