The United Nations relief chief, Martin Griffiths, warns that nearly nine months of war have tipped Sudan into a downward spiral that only grows more ruinous by the day. In a statement issued Thursday, Griffiths said that in 2024, the international community – particularly those with influence on the parties to the conflict in Sudan – must take decisive and immediate action to stop the fighting and safeguard humanitarian operations to help millions of civilians.
“As the conflict spreads, human suffering is deepening, humanitarian access is shrinking, and hope is dwindling. This cannot continue,” said Griffiths, who is the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC).
More than 7.4 million people have been displaced inside and outside Sudan since fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 15, 2023, with children representing about half of the people displaced. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the number of people displaced in Sudan has increased by about 500,000 in one month, mainly due to the escalating conflict in Al-Jazirah state.
Across Sudan, nearly 25 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2024 – but escalating hostilities are putting most of them beyond the reach of UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations.
“Deliveries across conflict lines have ground to a halt. And though the cross-border aid operation from Chad continues to serve as a lifeline for people in Darfur, efforts to deliver elsewhere are increasingly under threat,” Griffiths said.
In December, hostilities reached the country’s Al-Jazirah state, worsening the overall situation. More than 500,000 people have fled fighting in and around the state capital Wad Madani. Located 136 kilometers southeast of the conflict-torn capital Khartoum, Wad Madani, sits at the heart of Al-Jazirah state, known as Sudan's agricultural breadbasket. The town has been a place of refuge for many displaced women, children, and men from Khartoum due to its proximity to the capital.
Griffiths warned that ongoing mass displacement could also fuel the rapid spread of a cholera outbreak in the state, with more than 1,800 suspected cases reported there so far.
“The same horrific abuses that have defined this war in other hotspots – Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan – are now being reported in Wad Medani [Wad Madani]. Accounts of widespread human rights violations, including sexual violence, remind us that the parties to this conflict are still failing to uphold their commitments to protect civilians,” he said
The Emergency Relief Coordinator noted there were also serious concerns about the parties’ compliance with international humanitarian law (IHL).
"Given Wad Medani’s significance as a hub for relief operations, the fighting there – and looting of humanitarian warehouses and supplies – is a body blow to our efforts to deliver food, water, health care and other critical aid."
He again strongly condemned the looting of humanitarian supplies, which undermines the aid agencies’ ability to save lives.
All humanitarian field missions within and from Al-Jazirah state, a key hub for humanitarian operations in Sudan, have been suspended, jeopardizing the already fragile delivery of critical aid to hundreds of thousands in need. The recent insecurity has prompted humanitarian organizations to relocate their staff to neighboring states.
The escalating violence in Sudan is also imperiling regional stability. The war has unleashed the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, uprooting the lives of more than 7.4 million people, some 6 million of whom are internally displaced and some 1.4 million who have crossed into neighboring countries already hosting large refugee populations.
Griffiths called on the parties to the conflict to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian access and stop the fighting immediately.
An estimated 24.8 million people—nearly one-half of Sudan’s population—will require humanitarian assistance across the country in 2024, according to the 2024 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) released on December 21. The HRP requests $2.7 billion to assist 14.7 million of the most vulnerable people during the year. Meanwhile, the revised 2023 Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan is only 41 percent funded as of January 4, 2024.
The scale of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sudan is unprecedented. The UN says the country is experiencing a “humanitarian crisis of epic proportions”. Millions of people lack access to protection, food, water, shelter, electricity, education, and health care.
Among them are more than 13 million children in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian support. Nearly 18 million people across Sudan are facing acute hunger - more than double the number at the same time a year ago.
Further information
Full text: UN relief chief: 2024 demands swift action to stem Sudan’s ruinous conflict, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, statement by Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, released January 4, 2024
https://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-2024-demands-swift-action-stem-sudans-ruinous-conflict
Full text: Sudan Humanitarian Update (4 January 2024), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, report, released January 4, 2024
https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-humanitarian-update-4-january-2024