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jan egeland
Civil War Risks Triggering 'Epic, Biblical-Style Famine' in Sudan
"Millions of lives and the peace and stability of an entire region are at stake," warned the head of the World Food Program.
Mar 06, 2024
International humanitarian organizations warned Wednesday that Sudan's civil war risks triggering severe famine unless the fighting stops.
Fighting between rival factions of Sudan's military government broke out nearly 11 months ago and spread rapidly throughout the northeastern African nation of 46 million people. Around 15,000 people have been killed and nearly 6 million others displaced during the war, while an estimated 1.5 million Sudanese have fled the country as refugees.
Those who remain in Sudan are reeling from recent drought and flooding driven by the climate emergency, a potent two-punch combination that has pushed millions of people to the brink of famine.
"The war in Sudan risks triggering the world's largest hunger crisis," said Cindy McCain, director of the United Nations World Food Program, in a statement. "Twenty years ago, Darfur was the world's largest hunger crisis and the world rallied to respond. But today, the people of Sudan have been forgotten. Millions of lives and the peace and stability of an entire region are at stake."
The crisis is particularly acute in and around the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, and in the vast, arid western region of Darfur, where one of the warring factions, the Rapid Support Forces, and its allies have massacred, pillaged, and terrorized members of the predominantly Massalit community.
In Khartoum, hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to find food due to dwindling supplies for the communal kitchens on which many depend and a communications blackout. People venturing outside their homes in search of food run the risk of being shot or shelled amid the fighting.
Meanwhile, some areas of Darfur haven't received any food aid in nearly a year as fighting has rendered it practically impossible for humanitarian workers to operate. According to a February report by Doctors Without Borders, one child is dying of starvation every two hours, and nearly 40% of infants and toddlers are malnourished.
"We are in grave danger of epic, biblical-style famine in Sudan," warned Jan Egeland, who heads the Norwegian Refugee Council, in a Reuters interview.
Egeland added that continued failure to deliver food aid to Darfur soon could mean "a death sentence for millions in desperate need."
According to the WFP:
Over 25 million people across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad are trapped in a spiral of deteriorating food security. WFP is unable to get sufficient emergency food assistance to desperate communities in Sudan who are trapped by fighting because of the relentless violence and interference by the warring parties. Right now, 90% of people facing emergency levels of hunger in Sudan are stuck in areas that are largely inaccessible to WFP.
Humanitarian assistance has been further disrupted after authorities revoked permissions for cross-border truck convoys, forcing WFP to halt its operations from Chad into Darfur. Over one million people in West and Central Darfur had received WFP assistance via this lifeline route since August, and WFP was in the process of scaling up to support that number each month as hunger and malnutrition continue to skyrocket in Darfur.
Meanwhile, as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee into South Sudan and Chad, humanitarian efforts there have reached a breaking point.
"I met mothers and children who have fled for their lives not once, but multiple times, and now hunger is closing in on them," said McCain. "The consequences of inaction go far beyond a mother unable to feed her child and will shape the region for years to come. Today I am making an urgent plea for the fighting to stop, and that all humanitarian agencies must be allowed to do their lifesaving work."
WFP said it "urgently needs unimpeded access in Sudan to address the escalating food insecurity, which will have significant long-term impacts on the region, along with an injection of funding to respond to the spread of the humanitarian crisis to neighboring countries."
"Ultimately," the agency added, "a cessation of hostilities and lasting peace is the only way to reverse course and prevent catastrophe."
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Expanded Rafah Assault Would Be 'Stain on Israel' and Its Backers: Refugee Group
The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council called for "an immediate cease-fire to reach the women, children, families who are at breaking point, with lifesaving aid."
Feb 08, 2024
Accusing Israel of waging war on a "gigantic refugee camp" where more than 1 million Palestinians have moved to escape air and ground attacks over the last four months, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council on Thursday called on the Israel Defense Forces to stop its shelling of the southern Gaza city of Rafah and halt further plans for an intensified assault.
With Israeli military officials reporting that they have not devised a plan to protect civilian lives in Rafah, NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland said that a ground offensive in the city—previously designated a "safe zone" where more than 1 million Palestinians were told to go as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched air and ground attacks across the enclave—would be a "stain on both Israel and those nations providing arms," including the United States.
"It would be a bloodbath, and among children and women, among the innocent," Egeland told CNN, adding that reports of Hamas' tactic of "blending in with civilians... does not in any way justify indiscriminate attacks."
Egeland repeated the NRC's call for "an immediate cease-fire to reach the women, children, families who are at breaking point, with lifesaving aid."
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs earlier this week warned that Israel would likely commit "war crimes" if it launched expanded attacks on Rafah, which Netanyahu ordered on Wednesday after rejecting a cease-fire agreement proposed by Hamas.
Two-thirds of Gaza's population is now crammed into Rafah, where shelters are at 150% capacity and displaced people are struggling with a lack of safe drinking water, hygiene products, or showers. In the NRC's assessment of nine shelters—where 27,400 displaced people are staying—"diseases, including hepatitis A, gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, smallpox, lice, influenza, were reported in every location assessed."
"Conditions in Rafah are already dire, and a full-scale Israeli military operation will lead to even more loss of civilian life. Aid workers have been grappling with insecurity and insufficient aid for months. Attacks in areas where they provide food, water and shelter means this life-saving support will be impeded, if not entirely stopped," said Angelita Caredda, Middle East and North Africa regional director for the NRC.
"Further deterioration of humanitarian conditions in Rafah would be catastrophic as disease and starvation already persist among the displaced population," Caredda continued.
Overnight air strikes on Wednesday into Thursday in Rafah killed 14 people, including five children, and Al Jazeera's Hani Mahmoud reported that displaced people in the town are facing "a surge in attacks from air, land, and sea."
At one shelter, a children's entertainment event—which humanitarian aid workers have continued to provide to give Gaza's youngest residents a sense of normalcy—was interrupted by a bombing "just meters away," reported Al Jazeera.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), said the reports of intensified shelling in Rafah were "deeply alarming."
"Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on Earth, and Rafah is now the most densely populated place in Gaza," Omar Shakir, Israel-Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, toldAl Jazeera. "Any sort of military campaign or air strike would amplify risks of disproportionate attacks."
Agnes Callamard, secretary-general of Amnesty International, called for all efforts to be accelerated to secure a cease-fire "to save the thousands of people who have found refuge in Rafah."
Representatives of Hamas arrived in Cairo on Thursday for discussions with Israel regarding a new potential cease-fire deal. Egyptian officials told Al Jazeera that talks could take at least 10 days before a possible truce begins. Over the past 10 days, more than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza.
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