Sudan Relief Operations Are On The Brink Of Collapse, UN Agency Warns
CAIRO: Humanitarian efforts in Sudan’s war-torn North Darfur region could come to a complete halt unless emergency financing and the safe delivery of aid supplies are ensured, the UN Migration Agency warned on Tuesday.
“Despite the growing need, humanitarian aid operations are now on the verge of collapse,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said in a statement. The report added: “Warehouses are nearly empty, aid convoys face serious insecurity, and access restrictions continue to prevent the delivery of sufficient aid.”
More funding is needed to ease the humanitarian impact of the war between the Sudanese army and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the IOM said. The organization warned that “an even bigger disaster” could occur if its call is ignored.
“Our teams are responding, but insecurity and supplies running out mean we are only reaching a small fraction of those in need,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement.
U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the Pope was in Sudan and U.N. humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher arrived in Port Sudan on Tuesday, where he met with officials, U.N. humanitarian partners and the diplomatic community.
RSF’s recent capture of North Darfur’s capital, al-Fasher, left hundreds dead and forced tens of thousands of people to flee reported atrocities by paramilitary forces, according to aid groups and UN officials. About 90,000 people have left al-Fasher and surrounding villages, embarking on a perilous journey through unsafe roads with no access to food, water or medical care, the IOM said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that the situation in North Darfur “remains volatile” following the RSF takeover, stressing that while large-scale fighting has subsided, “sporadic clashes and drone activity continue, leaving civilians at risk of looting, forced recruitment and gender-based violence.”
Tens of thousands of people have arrived in overcrowded displacement camps in Tawila, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Al-Fasher. Those displaced in the camps find themselves in barren areas with few tents and inadequate food and medical supplies.
‘The number of displaced people is huge’ “We get very little food from the community kitchens here; we only get lunch,” 20-year-old Sohaiba Omar told The Associated Press from a shelter in the Diba Nayra camp in Tawila. “We also need a nearby water source and toilet. Leaving our waste out in the open can cause us to get sick and catch diseases like cholera.”
Camp volunteer Batoul Mohamed, 25, said: “The number of displaced people is very high. They are also hungry. It is very difficult for people to come to us and say that they cannot eat because there is not enough food.”
Aid group Médecins Sans Frontières has warned that malnutrition in displacement camps has reached “staggering” proportions. More than 70 percent of children under 5 who arrived in Tawila between the fall of al-Fasher and Nov. 3 were acutely malnourished, and more than a third experienced severe acute malnutrition, the group said Tuesday.
“The true extent of the crisis is probably much worse than reported,” the report said.
The violence spread to other parts of Sudan, including the West Darfur and Kordofan regions, forcing more people to flee. According to the IOM, approximately 39,000 people fled North Kordofan between October 26 and November 9.
The war between the RSF and the army began in 2023, when tensions erupted between the two former allies who were supposed to oversee the democratic transition following the 2019 uprising. The conflict has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced 12 million, according to the World Health Organization. Aid groups say the real death toll could be many times higher.
Nations continue ceasefire efforts Also Tuesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Bedr Abdelatty met with Sudanese Chief of General Staff Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan at the Red Sea Port of Sudan, as global efforts to achieve a ceasefire and prevent a humanitarian disaster in Sudan gain momentum.
Abdelatty expressed Egypt’s open support for the Sudanese armed forces and condemned the atrocities in Al-Fasher.
“Standing with Sudan is a matter of principle,” he told reporters at a press conference after the meeting, adding that Egypt supports “all national state institutions of Sudan, including the armed forces.”
He stressed the need to commit to the peace plan announced in September by a quartet including the US, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement issued by Egypt’s Foreign Ministry. The plan envisages a three-month humanitarian ceasefire followed by a nine-month political process.
RSF announced last week that it had accepted the quartet’s humanitarian ceasefire. The army said it welcomed the proposal but would only accept it if the RSF withdraws from civilian areas and gives up its weapons.
