Conflict-affected people in Darfur, Sudan. |File Photo|.
Humanitarian experts raised alarm over the looming famine in Sudan’s Darfur region as the armed clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continue to rage further displacing hundreds of thousands from their homes.
The conflict created a humanitarian crisis as the the world’s leading experts on hunger, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee confirmed on August 1, 2024, what many who follow events in Sudan had feared: Famine is underway in Sudan’s north Darfur region.
Thousands of people are starving to death and many more thousands are at risk.
The FRC is a group of independent international experts in food security and nutrition who assess the plausibility of famine classifications.
Fighters from both sides of the conflict in Sudan have attacked civilians, including aid workers, depriving civilians of food and access to water and other essential goods.
The government forces (SAF) have restricted food aid to areas where people are starving, and the Rapid Support Forces, the armed group in conflict with the armed forces, have pillaged humanitarian assistance
Akshaya Kumar, the crisis advocacy director at Human Rights Watch said the callous indifference of both sides in the conflict in Sudan has helped tip communities in north Darfur over the edge from hunger to death.
Kumar stressed that the outrage alone in the face of mass starvation is not going to change the conduct of the warring forces who have shown such disregard for civilians’ lives and well-being.
“Before more children and other civilians die of starvation, governments around the globe need to impose consequences, sanction those responsible for atrocity crimes, and press the African Union and United Nations to deploy a civilian protection mission that can help facilitate and safeguard aid deliveries,” Kumar added.
