War-torn Sudan faces world’s largest hunger crisis
The 11-month war that has raged in Sudan now “risks triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis” according to The Arab Weekly plus other agencies.
In April 2023, war broke out in Sudan over disputes about the powers of the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under an internationally backed plan for a political transition towards civilian rule and elections.
An act that has led to the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) warning that Sudan could face the World’s largest hunger crisis on the 6th of March, almost a year later.
As a result “millions of lives and the peace and stability of an entire region are at stake”, WFP executive director Cindy McCain said after concluding a visit to South Sudan.
The war has devastated the country’s infrastructure and prompted serious warnings of famine. It has displaced millions of people, with more than 8 million people being uprooted from their homes, in addition to two million who had already been displaced before the conflict started, making it the world’s largest displacement crisis.
READ: 4 million displaced in 4-month Sudan crisis
The WFP says that only 5% of Sudan’s population “can afford a square meal a day”. With current resources, the WFP is struggling to keep pace with the significant level of need and is currently unable to access 90% of those who continuously face “emergency levels of hunger”.
The UN food program added that “families arrive hungry and are met with more hunger” as they reach crowded transit camps in South Sudan, where 600,000 people have fled. One in five children crossing the border was malnourished, it added.
READ: Sudan conflict Liam’s 500+ child lives
The WFP warned that the humanitarian response is at “breaking point” and will remain so unless the violence comes to a halt. “Ultimately, a cessation of hostilities and lasting peace is the only way to reverse course and prevent catastrophe,” it said.
McCain referred to the vast western region of Sudan saying “Twenty years ago, Darfur was the world’s largest hunger crisis and the world rallied to respond”. She continued saying “But today, the people of Sudan have been forgotten”.
She reflected on her time visiting Sudan, stating “I met mothers and children who have fled for their lives not once, but multiple times, and now hunger is closing in on them”, and that “The consequences of inaction go far beyond a mother unable to feed her child”.
According to a government statement issued on March 6th, Sudan has agreed for the first time to take delivery of humanitarian aid via Chad and South Sudan. The Sudanese government will specify routes and airports in different regions to receive deliveries of aid, the statement added.
Across Sudan, 18 million people are facing acute food security, five million of whom are at catastrophic levels of hunger, the highest emergency classification short of famine.
The Arab Weekly/ Agencies
