The United Nations is sounding the alarm on famine in Sudan. As fighting between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rebels intensifies and aid workers struggle to access the country, the world health agency, WHO, points to a dramatic situation for civilians.
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More than half of the population of Sudan is on the verge of starvation and Without immediate intervention, countless numbers of people could die » warned theWHO this Wednesday. A cry of alarm shared by NGOs because nothing is coming in and no one is working anymore. This is the observation that constantly comes up in the mouths of humanitarians, blocked for two months by a blockade imposed by paramilitaries of the FSR, the Rapid Support Forces.
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The intensification of fighting has disrupted supplies and reduced agricultural activities to nothing. In North Darfur, in Zamzam, 500,000 people displaced by the conflict suffer from malnutrition, including children. “ There are families today who eat tree bark because they have absolutely nothing to eat. There are deaths due to famine: people are dying of hunger today in Sudan and we know that if we do not have an improvement in the situation, we will not be able to avoid seeing images of children , entire villages that will die of hunger », explains Justine Muzik Piquemal is the regional director for Solidarités International:
Added to thisfloods which hit the north east of the country At the end of August, it was the third famine declared in Sudan in the 21st century. But it is struggling to mobilize resources, deplores Stéphane Doyen, head of operations for Médecins sans frontières (MSF). “ We were talking with the World Food Program yesterday, they estimate that they fed 1.7 million people in September and they are trying to reach 2 million. This is totally insufficient, it is not with these figures that we will combat a situation of major food insecurity across the country », alerts the manager.
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To meet the gigantic needs, MSF and others NGO believe that the available financial resources should be increased fivefold.