War and hunger threaten to “take away” all of Sudan and tip the region into a humanitarian catastrophe, the UN warned on Friday (August 25th), which lacks funds and faces bureaucratic obstacles to deliver the ‘help.
Since April 15, fierce fighting has pitted the army against the paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces. “The longer the fighting drags on, the more devastating its impact. In some places, there is already no more food. Hundreds of thousands of children are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death if untreated,” UN Humanitarian Secretary Martin Griffiths warned in a statement, adding: “This conflict that is spreading – and the hunger, disease and population displacement it causes – now threatens to overtake the whole country. »
In Geneva, its spokesman, Jens Laerke, told a press briefing that the UN faces two problems: lack of funds and difficulties in accessing the population, due to insecurity. but also the many “bureaucratic hurdles” that impede the delivery of aid. As a result, containers are getting stuck in Port Sudan, where the UN has established its logistics hub, and the UN is not being granted enough visas to bring the necessary personnel into the country.
380,000 people fled the country
The UN has received only 26% of the $2.6 billion (2.4 billion euros) requested to fund aid to Sudan this year. However, according to the World Health Organization, 20.3 million people in Sudan – more than 42% of the population – have suffered from high levels of food insecurity since July. Diseases (measles, malaria, dengue, etc.) are spreading throughout the country and most people do not have access to medical treatment. “The conflict has decimated the health sector, with most hospitals out of service,” Griffiths said.
The war is the cause of the death of 5,000 people, according to the NGO Acled. The actual balance sheet could be higher. The UN is particularly concerned about reports of the use of children as soldiers. Aid workers have heard from mothers and children telling reporters that they are being used as a “weapon of war to kill”, according to UNICEF Geneva spokesman James Elder.
The intense fighting that has ravaged the capital, Khartoum, and Darfur since mid-April has spread to Kordofan, in the south of the country. In four months, more than 4.6 million people have been forced to flee the clashes, including nearly 1 million in neighboring countries. Since the start of the conflict, 380,000 people have fled to Chad, recalled Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Friday. “The care is insufficient, there are not even enough camps today to be able to shelter all those who need it,” MSF emergency manager Trish Newport told reporters. calling for a “massive and rapid increase in humanitarian aid”.