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UN aid chiefs warn of famine for millions of Sudanese

01 June 2024 02:16 (UTC +04:00)

UN aid chiefs warned on Friday that millions of Sudanese face famine amid intense fighting and access denials, APA reports.

Time is running out for millions of Sudanese who are at imminent risk of famine, displaced from their lands, living under bombardments, and cut off from humanitarian assistance, said the principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, a forum to strengthen humanitarian assistance, in a statement.

With the conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces now in its second year, 18 million people are acutely hungry, including 3.6 million children who are acutely malnourished. Sudan is home to the largest number of internally displaced people in the world at nearly 10 million. A further 2 million people have escaped to neighboring countries, said the statement.

Despite the tremendous need, aid workers continue to face systematic obstructions and deliberate denials of access by parties to the conflict. Aid workers are being killed, injured and harassed, and humanitarian supplies are being looted, it said.

Extreme hunger is unfolding, and the outlook for food production in 2024 is bleak, said the statement. "Without an immediate and major-step change, we will face a nightmare scenario: a famine will take hold in large parts of the country. More people will flee to neighboring countries in search of sustenance and safety. More children will succumb to disease and malnutrition. Women and girls, already bearing the brunt of the conflict, will face even greater suffering and dangers."

To prevent these worst-case scenarios, the parties to the conflict should take immediate measures to protect civilians; facilitate unimpeded humanitarian access through all possible crossline and cross-border routes; immediately cease all acts denying, obstructing and interfering with, or politicizing, humanitarian action; simplify and expedite administrative and bureaucratic procedures related to the delivery of humanitarian aid; de-escalate the situation in Al Fasher, the capital city of North Darfur, and adopt a nationwide cease-fire; stop human rights violations, said the statement.