Sudan Foreign Ministry accuses RSF of starving, impoverishing people
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The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces continues its "malicious plan" to cause famine in the country.
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A Sudanese youth sits outside a tent set up at a camp for internally displaced Sudanese from Sennar state, in the al-Huri district of Gedaref city in the east of war-torn Sudan on July 14, 2024. (AFP)
The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned against the country sliding into famine, citing the destruction of infrastructure by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the disruption of the agricultural season in the renowned Gezira Scheme.
In a statement, the Ministry said that, under the supervision of its regional sponsors, the RSF "continues its malicious plan to cause famine in the country, by deliberately and systematically disrupting agricultural activity in food production areas, intimidating farmers, and destroying the infrastructure of the agricultural sector, as well as the looting of agricultural machinery, seeds, and crops of the winter and summer seasons."
The statement pointed out that "the ultimate goal of the plan is to force people out of their production areas and replace them with militia members and foreign mercenaries."
"Due to this terrorist campaign, production was disrupted in parts of the Gezira Scheme for the first time in a hundred years, in addition to threatening the agricultural season in the states of Sennar and Blue Nile and the al-Rahad Scheme," the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated.
Elsewhere, the Ministry stressed the necessity of "confronting those behind this plan aimed at starving and impoverishing the people of Sudan."
One-fifth of Sudan's population displaced due to war
In a related context, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) revealed that approximately one-fifth of Sudan's population has been displaced due to the war, marking the world's largest displacement crisis.
The IOM highlighted that more than 10 million people have been registered as displaced from their homes, which amounts to 20% of Sudan's population.
In its latest report on the situation in Sudan, the organization highlighted that over 2.2 million people have fled to other countries since the outbreak of the war in April 2023, with an additional 7.8 million internally displaced, in addition to 2.8 million others displaced due to previous conflicts in the country.
The report further pointed out that with the expansion of the RSF's operations in the southeast of the country in recent weeks, more than 150,000 people have fled from the state of Sennar, many for the second or third time following the paramilitary group's raids on markets and homes in small towns and villages in the state.
