Faith Nyasuguta
The last four months of fighting in Sudan have pushed millions into food insecurity – with an additional 1.5 million children expected to fall into crisis levels of hunger by September – as aid agencies say they are struggling to reach people.
On the daily, up to 17,000 children have been falling into crisis levels of hunger, Save the Children cautioned on Tuesday. With 4 million people displaced so far, the charity said more people were facing hunger in Sudan than at any point since records there began in 2012.
“It’s impossible to overemphasize the seriousness of the situation in Sudan. This is a desperate, dire crisis for children,” said Dr Arif Noor, Save the Children’s director in Sudan.
“In conflict areas, if you go to a market, you risk being robbed, shelled, murdered or caught in the crossfire,” he said. “If you get to that market, the chances are the shelves are empty.”
The latest report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification shows that areas with the worst fighting are predictably seeing the highest rates of hunger. Across the country, 20.3 million people – or 42% of Sudan’s population – were gripped by high levels of acute food insecurity, the IPC said.
One in every two people needs urgent help in Darfur, where the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have been accused of large-scale massacres of minority ethnic groups.
According to the Sudanese independent broadcaster Radio Dabanga, 132 children have succumbed to malnutrition-related conditions in the eastern state of El Gedaref.
Already, prices of staple foods including sorghum, millet and wheat are high but shortages are likely to worsen as farmers are forced from their land by fighting.
An open letter from humanitarian leaders released this week called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and cautioned the international community that there was “no excuse for waiting” to act in stopping the conflict “as Sudan’s children are wasting away”.
Frustrated aid workers have bemoaned the lack of funding and support for humanitarian operations in Sudan, compared with the response to the war in Ukraine, condemning the disinterest as “unapologetically racist”.
Operations have also been limited by insecurity, which recently pushed the Norwegian Refugee Council to close its operations in the capital, Khartoum, and the Darfur region, as well as visa red tape.
There are at least 120 visas for humanitarian workers waiting for approval, according to the Sudan Ingo Forum, which represents 70 aid groups operating in the country. Its coordinator, Anthony Neal, said that at least 15 of those pending since June were for surgeons, pharmacists and anesthetists. He said even those who had visas were facing travel restrictions.
Neal said Sudanese staff had been crucial in keeping services going but that the ability to bring in more international staff was vital to scale up the response.
“Long-term, without the ability to increase capacity and expertise, the current highly limited efforts are unsustainable,” said Neal.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is also awaiting visas for its staff, and said this threatened its ability to continue to support the Turkish hospital in Khartoum, one of very few in the city still providing around-the-clock care.
“If we cannot bring in new staff, we will be forced to withdraw from the hospital,” MSF said. “This will have a devastating impact on the people who remain in Khartoum, who will need lifesaving healthcare over the coming months.”
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