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4 August 2023 (Port Sudan) – Days after famine was confirmed in Sudan’s North Darfur state, the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) urges action.
The recent Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) assessment by the Famine Review Committee (FRC) concluded that famine conditions are widespread in parts of North Darfur, including in the Zam Zam refugee camp in El Fasher.
The Zam Zam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp, located south of the town of El Fasher, is one of the largest IDP camps, with an estimated population of at least 500,000 people.
The escalating violence in Sudan has lasted for more than 15 months, seriously hindering the implementation of humanitarian assistance and leading to a further deterioration of the situation.
The escalating violence in El Fasher has resulted in large-scale clashes, forcing many residents to seek refuge in internally displaced persons camps that lack basic services.
Mamadou Dean Balde, UNHCR’s Regional Director for the East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes, expressed concern about deaths of displaced women, children and men from hunger, malnutrition and disease in North Darfur.
“This is a stark demonstration of the vulnerability of people who have been forced to flee, many multiple times,” he said in a statement. “With more than 10 million people forcibly displaced since the start of the war last year and large parts of the population lacking even the most basic services, the world’s most pressing humanitarian disaster is growing and threatening to engulf the entire region.”
UNHCR officials say the arrival of millions of refugees and internally displaced people from Sudan is overwhelmed host communities.
The report further states that as famine and hunger intensify amid violence in Sudan, people crossing borders in search of safety will face increasingly dangerous situations.
“Urgent action is essential to avoid further death and suffering. This brutal war must end. Humanitarians must be able to deliver life-saving assistance. International donors need to step up their support to address the continued underfunding of this and other humanitarian crises. Solidarity with individuals and communities in need is essential. The Sudanese people have suffered enough,” Bardeh noted.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently appealing to all parties to the war to allow humanitarian organizations safe passage to provide life-saving assistance to communities in the most critical circumstances.
“It is not too late to stop famine from spreading to other parts of Sudan,” said Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the World Food Programme. “To save lives and prevent widespread famine in Sudan, we must be able to reach all areas that need help,” she added.
She added: “The Sudanese people have endured unimaginable hardship since the conflict began and they see us as their lifeline.”
Since the conflict broke out in Sudan in mid-April 2023, the World Food Programme has been warning that the hunger crisis will continue to worsen and calling on the warring parties to allow humanitarian aid to enter.
(English stone)
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