United Nations – A war of almost two years has wrapped Sudan in the The world’s largest humanitarian crisis And he led the African country to become the only nation that the famine experiences, a high UN official said Thursday.
Almost 25 million people, half of the population of Sudan, face extreme hunger, while people die in areas affected by hunger in western Darfur, said Shaun Hughes, the emergency coordinator of the World Food Program for Sudan and the region.
Sudan He immersed himself in the conflict on April 15, 2023, when the tensions that called a lot of time between their military and paramilitary leaders exploded in the capital, Jartum, and extended to other regions, including the vast region of Western Darfur.
Since then, at least 20,000 people have been contacted for being killed, although the number is probably much higher.
“According to any metric, this is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis,” Hughes told UN journalists, pointing to more than 8 million people displaced in Sudan and 4 million who have fled through the borders seven countries that also face hunger and need humanitarian aid.
Initially, the famine was confirmed last August at the Zamzam camp in northern Darfur, where around 500,000 people sought refuge, but Hughes said that since then it has spread to another 10 areas in Darfur and Kordofan. He said that 17 other areas run the risk of famine in the coming months.
“The scale of what develops in Sudan threatens with dwarf of anything we have seen in decades,” said Hughes.
He warned in a Nairobi video press conference that “tens of thousands of more people will die in Sudan during a third year of war unless PMA and other humanitarian agencies have access and resources to reach those in need.”
At the end of last month, the Sudanese Army recovered control About Jartoum, A great symbolic victory in the war. But the rival Paramilitary group of fast support forces They still control Most Darfur and some other areas.
Hughes said that what is happening in the Zamzam camp, which is caught in the conflict, is “horrible”, as well as the situation in the capital of northern Darfur, the phase, which has been besieged by the RSF since May 2024. It is the only capital in Darfur that the RSF is not maintained.
Hughes said PMA receives daily reports from its humanitarian partners and contacts in the field in northern Darfur “that excess mortality is happening as a result of famine.”
While WFP has not been able to get to Zamzam with a convoy since October, he said that the agency has been able to help some 400,000 people there, in the Estar and other camps, digitally transferring effective to people’s bank accounts so they can buy food and other items. However, this is only possible where there are markets.
Hughes said that WFP’s assistance to needy people in need has tripled since mid -2014 and that the agency is now reaching more than 3 million per month, mainly through an increase in the use of digital cash transfers.
WFP said it wants to help 7 million people in Sudan in the next six months, but needs $ 650 million.
Hughes was asked yes Trump Administration Fund cuts They were responsible for any necessary amount. He replied: “All the assignments that the United States government has made to Sudan is still effective, so we are grateful.”
WFP said it needs additional $ 150 million to help people who have fled to Chad, South Sudan, Central Republic of Africa and other places.
“Without funds, we reduce the number of people who receive assistance or reduce the amount of assistance we provide to people,” said Hughes. “That is already happening.”
