Updated 04.28 | Published 04.20
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full screen Refugee camp in the Ethiopian Amhara region, about 70 kilometers from the border with Sudan. Stock image from 1 March. Photo: Michele Spatari/AFP/TT
About five million people may experience acute food shortages in the coming months in war-torn Sudan, warns UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths in a letter to the UN Security Council.
Fighting continues in the country, despite a Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
“This is the moment of truth. The parties must silence the weapons, protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access,” writes Griffiths at X.
The fighting, which broke out in April last year, is between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who is the leader of the militia group RSF. Both sides have been accused of war crimes and the fighting has triggered a humanitarian crisis.
18 million Sudanese are already facing acute food insecurity, warns Griffiths in the letter, which AFP has seen. He notes that nearly 730,000 Sudanese children, including over 240,000 in Darfur, are already believed to be suffering from severe malnutrition.