Given that starvation is a real threat in Sudan, the World Food Programme has urged the parties involved in the conflict to provide the organisation complete access.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been engulfed in conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by former deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo, and the regular armed forces, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the de facto leader of the nation.
Tens of thousands of people have died, millions have been displaced, and the fighting has led to one of the worst humanitarian disasters in history.
Both sides have been accused of committing war crimes, including targeting civilians and preventing aid from reaching those in need, as well as using methods that amount to starving millions.
“We want complete and unfettered access as well as the ability to get in through as many different entry points into Sudan as possible,” WFP’ sexecutive director Cindy McCain told AFP on Sunday.
She issued a warning, saying that since famine has already been declared in Darfur’s Zamzam camp and the entire country of Sudan is presently on hunger alert, “it will spread so it’s really urgent and that we can get in and we can do it at scale.”
According to the UN refugee agency, the war has displaced some 11.3 million people, including almost three million who have migrated outside of Sudan.
According to a UN-backed assessment conducted in August, the fighting had driven the Zamzam displacement camp in North Darfur state into famine, and almost 26 million people suffer from severe food insecurity.
“For us it’s about getting food and trucks in there so it’s important that the gates stay open,” McCain said, adding that this included not just Sudan’s border crossing with Chad but all crossings into the country.
“We need as many of them open as possible,” she said.
On October 18, Western countries including Britain, the United States, France and Germany urged both sides in war-torn Sudan to let in “urgently required” aid to millions of people in dire need.
“The two sides’ systematic obstruction of local and international humanitarian efforts is at the root of this famine,” the European and North American nations said in a joint statement.
