Sudan is experiencing escalating rates of hunger and malnutrition as the consequences of conflict and displacement spread through the region. At least 25 million people in the region are affected by food insecurity, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today, while thousands of families are displaced and forced across the borders into Chad and South Sudan every week.
"The impact of this conflict spans three countries - Sudan, South Sudan and Chad - and has created the world's largest displacement crisis," said Michael Dunford, WFP's regional director for Eastern Africa.
"Almost a year into the war and we're seeing no signs that the number of families fleeing across borders will slow. The children and women who are crossing to South Sudan or Chad are hungry and arriving with no resources."
WFP and other aid organizations have struggled to consistently meet the people's needs since the onset of the crisis in areas isolated by conflict. Most people in need are trapped in areas of active fighting. An estimated 18 million people within Sudan experience acute food insecurity and malnutrition, including 3.8 million Sudanese children under 5 years old.
An increasing rate of malnutrition is occurring in children living in temporary transit camps. According to WFP, 4 percent of children fleeing to South Sudan are malnourished when they arrive. The figure increases to 25 percent in the transit center near the border between Sudan and South Sudan.
Even if those impacted can escape, they flee to places like South Sudan or Chad, who have humanitarian crises of their own. In the South Sudanese border town of Renk around half a million of those fleeing the war have arrived.
"Unless this conflict is resolved, unfettered access is granted to humanitarian agencies, and funding is received, this crisis will only worsen," said Dunford.
"We need to be able to provide support to families in Sudan to avoid the world's largest displacement crisis turning into a hunger catastrophe as we approach the lean season," he said.
More than 553,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to Chad since the conflict started, with 40 percent of the children who arrive at an emergency clinic at a reception camp experiencing acute malnutrition, according to WFP. The rate of malnutrition in the refugee camps in Chad is above the WHO emergency threshold of 15 percent, limiting access to care for refugees who arrived before the onset of the Sudanese crisis.
The UN agency warns that a devastating hunger catastrophe is approaching as food and nutrition needs across Sudan, South Sudan, and Chad soar. While the rates of malnutrition continue to increase, it gets more difficult for WFP to provide care due to a nearly $300 million funding gap over the next six months.
On April 15, 2023, a power struggle between two rival generals of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plunged the country into war. The conflict erupted amid a stalled transition to elections and a civilian-led government. Fighting has continued to escalate despite international efforts to broker a ceasefire.
More than ten months after the war between the SAF and the RSF began in the capital, Khartoum, more than 8.1 million people have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge inside and outside Sudan. At least 6.3 million of those displaced are within Sudan, while more than 1.8 million others have sought refuge in other countries. 1.6 million of these have fled across borders into neighboring South Sudan, Chad, Ethiopia, Egypt and the Central African Republic.
In total, some 10.7 million people are now displaced by conflict in Sudan, including 9 million within the country, making Sudan the largest internal displacement crisis in the world.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Sudan crisis sends shockwaves around the region as displacement, hunger, and malnutrition soar, WFP, press release, published February 19, 2024
https://www.wfp.org/news/sudan-crisis-sends-shockwaves-around-region-displacement-hunger-and-malnutrition-soar