Over half of Sudanese face 'acute food insecurity': UN-backed report
Africa
By
AFP
| Jun 27, 2024
Some 25.6 million people, or more than half of Sudan's population, are facing high levels of "acute food insecurity", a report cited by the United Nations said Thursday.
That figure includes 755,000 people who are facing famine, while 8.5 million face "emergency" conditions, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said.
Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, when fighting erupted between the regular military led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo.
"Fourteen months into the conflict, Sudan is facing the worst levels of acute food insecurity ever recorded by the IPC in the country," the report said.
It pointed to "a stark and rapid deterioration of the food security situation" compared with the previous figures published in December, with a 45 percent increase in people facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
READ MORE
DRC on the brink as Kabila-led rebel movement challenges Tshisekedi's government
Counties to receive Sh425.6 million more in new Bill
War and minerals: Erik Prince and paramilitaries in DR Congo
UN sees 'window of opportunity' for peace in eastern DR Congo
Former DR Congo president Kabila forms new force with M23 armed group
DR Congo militias profit from war against M23 guerrillas
The city startup building trade from broken glass
Emerging Stars survive Tanzania attack to book Ivory Coast in AFCON U-23 qualifiers
Families demand justice for Cameroon's 'nightmare' wave of murdered women
Emerging Stars rout Tanzania 4-1 to take control of U23 AFCON qualifier
"The conflict has not only triggered mass displacement and disruption of supply routes... it has also severely limited access to essential humanitarian assistance, exacerbating an already dire situation," the IPC said.
It further cited "highly dysfunctional health services, water contamination and poor sanitation and hygiene conditions".
People trapped in conflict areas and those who fled the fighting, whether internally or abroad, are especially vulnerable to food insecurity, the report said.
The IPC report comes a day after United Nations experts charged that both sides of the conflict were using starvation as a weapon of war.
Four independent UN rights experts on Wednesday said foreign governments providing military support to both the army and the RSF were "complicit" in war crimes.