17 05 2024
Geneva, Switzerland
The UN’s appeal for humanitarian aid to help crisis-ridden Sudan, which is in the throes of civil war, is “catastrophically underfunded” at just 12%, the UN said on Friday.
The UN and other humanitarian partners need $2.7 billion this year, in particular to help some 15 million people in urgent need of aid, explained Jens Laerke, spokesman for the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in Geneva.
“Famine is getting closer. Disease is closing in. Fighting is closing in on civilians, especially in Darfur,” said Mr. Laerke, speaking at the UN’s regular press briefing in Geneva, recalling that overall 25 million people – half the population of Sudan – are in need of assistance.
“This is not just an underfunded appeal, it’s a catastrophically underfunded appeal,” he stressed.
“Without the rapid arrival of additional resources, humanitarian organizations will not be able to step up their efforts in time to stave off famine and prevent further deprivation,” he warned.
For the past year, Sudan has been in the grip of a war between the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhane, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy-turned-rival, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo.
For several weeks now, the international community has been warning of imminent carnage in el-Facher, the last major town in Darfur not to be in the hands of the RSF, and which until now had been relatively unscathed.
In a telephone conversation on Tuesday with the two warring generals, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Tรผrk, “urged them both to take immediate – and public – action to defuse the situation”, said his spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani at the press briefing.
The High Commissioner, who called the two men separately, had been trying to speak to them directly since August last year, Ms. Shamdasani said.
– rainy season –
He expressed his “deep distress” to them and called for respect for international law and a ceasefire.
Abdel Fattah al-Burhane promised to allocate more visas to the High Commission’s international staff, of whom only one is currently on site, which is “positive”, said Ms. Shamdasani.
Mr. Tรผrk had last physically met the two servicemen in November 2022, before the war began.
“13 months of war in Sudan, 9 million people displaced, representing around 17% of the population and the largest internal displacement crisis in the world today,” stressed Dr. Shible Sahbani, WHO representative in Sudan, via video link from Port Sudan.
“This conflict has caused hunger, but also insecurity and has almost destroyed the health system,” he said.
Cholera, measles, dengue fever, malaria… epidemics are spreading. According to the WHO, two-thirds of Sudan’s 18 states have multiple epidemics.
With the onset of the rainy season, “today’s problem is twofold”, with difficulties in reaching the population and an increase in vector-borne diseases, linked to the presence of mosquitoes and water quality, detailed Dr Sahbani.
“In addition, famine is threatening, particularly in parts of Darfur and Khartoum”, he said.
More than 1.4 million people have fled Sudan for neighboring countries, according to the UN.
Humaniterre with AFP
