Time ‘running out’: aid agencies urge immediate action on Sudan

Geneva, Switzerland — AFP

Four months into Sudan’s conflict, the situation is spiralling out of control, with mass displacement and millions on the verge of famine, humanitarian organisations have warned, urging immediate international action.

Since Sudan’s conflict erupted on April 15, the country has been plunged into a dire humanitarian crisis, with the United Nations also reporting arbitrary killings and rampant sexual abuse.

In a joint appeal, the heads of 20 global organisations pointed out that “more than six million Sudanese people are one step away from famine”.

“The situation is spiralling out of control,” said the statement, signed by the heads of numerous United Nations agencies, along with such organisations as Save the Children and CARE.

The signatories pointed out that more than 14 million children need humanitarian aid and over four million people have fled the fighting, either within the war-ravaged country or as refugees to neighbouring states.

At the same time, they warned, “time is running out for farmers to plant the crops that will feed them and their neighbours”.

They decried the lacklustre international response four months into the fighting between Sudan’s army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

‘No excuse’ 

“There is no excuse for waiting,” said the statement, pointing out that two appeals for aid to help some 19 million Sudanese “are just over 27-percent funded”.

“Please change that.”

The UN said it so far had received just a quarter of the $2.57 billion it has appealed for to help people inside Sudan, and just 31 percent of the $566 million requested to help those who have fled as refugees to neighbouring countries.

The signatories assured the people of Sudan that their organisations would “continue to push for access to all people and in all areas of Sudan to bring humanitarian supplies and essential services”.

They called for an “immediate cessation of hostilities”, and demanded that the parties to the conflict “grant us safe and unfettered access” to provide desperately needed aid.

They highlighted reports of widespread attacks on civilians, looting of humanitarian supplies, targeting of aid workers, civilians assets and infrastructure, including hospitals, and the blocking of humanitarian assistance.

Such acts, they warned, “may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

The UN human rights office said its figures, which are surely an undercount, indicate that more than 4,000 people have so far been killed in the fighting, including 28 humanitarian and health workers and 435 children.

Sexual violence 

The UN voiced particular concern for women and girls caught up in the conflict, amid “shocking incidence of sexual violence, including rape”.

“We’ve seen an increase of more than 900 percent in the conflict areas of gender-based violence,” Laila Baker of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) told reporters in Geneva via video link from Cairo.

“Those women are incredibly at risk,” she said.

The victims of such violence, which in a number of cases end up pregnant, find themselves with little or no access to assistance and care, she warned.

UN rights chief Volker Turk meanwhile said in a statement that his office had “received credible reports of 32 incidents of sexual violence against 73 victims as of 2 August”.

“This includes at least 28 incidents of rape. Men in RSF uniform were implicated in at least 19 incidents as perpetrators,” he said, stressing that “the actual number of cases is likely much higher”.