Aid groups press to stop Sudan ‘man-made’ famine predicted to kill 755,000

Aid groups have sounded the alarm, pressing for the prevention of a "man-made famine" in Sudan predicted to kill hundreds of thousands of people.

A UN-backed study in Sudan reported on Thursday nearly 26 million people faced dangerous food insecurity and 755,000 were on the brink of starvation.

Media reports said last week that Sudan’s catastrophic food situation, unprecedented in the world in past decades, calls for immediate attention.

Mercy Corp aid group warned that Sudan’s “man-made famine” could be even worse than what had been predicted in the reports.

Barrett Alexander, Mercy Corps' Director of Programs in Sudan, said he feared the death toll to be higher as the ongoing power struggle between warring generals in Sudan had forced farmers in the country’s agricultural areas to flee, leaving a negative impact on the next harvest.

“We’re seeing a man-made likely famine happen in front of our eyes that’s primarily conflict-induced,” Alexander, who is based in Port Sudan, told media while visiting Washington.

Aid groups warn of looming famine in Sudan

The UN OCHA Sudan said at least 37 percent of the population at crisis level or above suffer from hunger.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a little bit higher than that number,” Alexander, said of the projection by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative (IPC).

Meanwhile, IPC estimated nearly 26 million people, half of Sudan’s population, were facing acute food insecurity, with 755,000 more who were on the brink of starvation.

It said the regions that were in catastrophic conditions included the areas around the capital Khartoum and Darfur.

Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces started fighting in April 2023 after a plan to integrate the two Sudanese forces failed.

Alexander said getting across the frontlines created by the two sides is nearly impossible for aid workers.

Eatizaz Yousif, Sudan country director for the International Rescue Committee, said there have already been accounts of people resorting to eating grass in South Kordofan state.

“Definitely we will be seeing very soon people dying from a lack of food in different parts of the country,” said Yousif, who was also in Washington.

She said that the belligerents have looted food warehouses and harassed or killed humanitarian workers.

“It’s definitely a man-made hunger crisis because we don’t have a problem with the level of grain at this time,” she said.

The Sudanese conflict is between army leader Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the RSF led by Burhan's former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is allegedly backing the paramilitary group.

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Meanwhile, due to multiple conflicts in the world, donors have provided only 17 percent of the $2.7 billion sought by the United Nations to help Sudan.

Yousif said in comparison to the crises in "Gaza and Ukraine. Maybe they are more important in the geopolitical arena.”

However, “If you see the number of displaced and the number of humans suffering, Sudan should be on the top of humanitarian attention,” she insisted.

More than 10 million people have been displaced within war-torn Sudan, according to figures released on June 11, 2024 by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM said there were already nearly 3 million refugees in Sudan when the war broke out in April 2023 adding another 7.26 million people to the number.

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