Sudan war to consume entire country, UN says

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
25 Aug 2023 14:02

The United Nations warns that the war engulfing Sudan is set to consume the entire country amid chaos and violence.

Smoke rises over Khartoum, Sudan, June 23, 2023 (AP)

Sudan is facing an unprecedented crisis as a deadly combination of war and hunger threatens to plunge the nation into chaos, the United Nations said in a dire warning on Friday.

The ongoing conflict between rival military factions could result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of malnourished children and the potential collapse of the entire country, the United Nations highlighted.

The conflict erupted on April 15 between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.

What began as a power struggle has quickly escalated into a humanitarian catastrophe. The situation is dire, with the war exacerbating existing challenges, including hunger, disease, and displacement.

Since hostilities broke out, around 5 million people have left Khartoum, the capital province of Sudan, Siddiq Hassan Freini, the province's minister for social provision, said last week.

According to Freini, the armed war has made the province's poverty worse.

Martin Griffiths, the under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, stated, "The war in Sudan is fuelling a humanitarian emergency of epic proportions. This viral conflict – and the hunger, disease, and displacement left in its wake – now threatens to consume the entire country."

According to estimates from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project, nearly 5,000 lives have been lost due to the conflict. Tragically, many more casualties remain unaccounted for as the ongoing battles hinder the recovery of bodies.

Over the course of four months since the conflict's outbreak, the UN reports that more than 4.6 million people have been displaced from their homes. The situation has rapidly deteriorated, leaving regions without access to basic necessities like food and medical supplies.

The longer the conflict persists, the worse the situation becomes. Some areas have already depleted their food stocks, leaving their populations in dire circumstances, the UN has warned.

What is of grave concern is the health and well-being of children in the region. "Hundreds of thousands of children are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death if left untreated," warned Griffiths. One such area facing critical conditions is Kadugli, located in South Kordofan state. The ongoing clashes and road blockages have prevented aid workers from reaching the starving population, exacerbating an already dire situation.

Violent clashes between the RSF and the Sudanese army started on April 15 and were centered around Khartoum. Since then, the parties to the conflict have enacted a number of brief, nationwide ceasefires, but none of them has yet contributed to a peaceful resolution.

The battle has claimed hundreds of lives according to the UN, and the Red Cross has warned that continued conflicts run the risk of destroying the nation's healthcare system.

It is worth noting that in July, the conflict displaced some three million people out of their homes in less than three months, the United Nation's International Organization for Migration said.

With more than 2.2 million internally displaced Sudanese people and nearly 700,000 others who had to flee the country as a whole, the figures obtained back then by the IOM through its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) revealed that the conflict displaced close to three million people.

The IOM revealed that the majority of the people were displaced from Khartoum (67%) and Darfur (33%) toward the Northern State (16%), the River Nile (14%), West Darfur (7%), and White Nile states.

Moreover, two-thirds of Sudan's health facilities in the main battlegrounds remained out of service, the World Health Organization said, with some bombed and others occupied by fighters.

The few hospitals that were still operating were also extremely low on medical supplies, struggling to obtain fuel to power generators, and understaffed.