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War in Sudan Is Leading to Widespread Famine
Sudan is at a crisis point due to “this absolutely senseless war,” declared Ambassador Robert Wood, Alternative Representative for Special Political Affairs, to the UN Security Council.
“Famine has been officially declared in the Zamzam Internally Displaced Persons Camp in the El Fasher region of North Darfur, where more than 500,000 people are sheltering. Experts suspect famine is also occurring in nearby Abu Shouk and Al Salam IDP [internally displaced persons] camps.”
“Families who fled horrific violence have been going hungry for months. Children have been eating dirt and leaves. And every day, babies have been starving to death,” said Ambassador Wood. And yet, despite the fact that humanitarian assistance is available, the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, have chosen to let the Sudanese people starve by blocking humanitarian corridors:
“This includes the SAF restricting humanitarians from surging supplies through the critical Adré border crossing, which is only hours from Zamzam Camp. Just like they blocked aid movements from Adré with a single note verbale. The SAF and the Government in Port Sudan could end this obstruction today.”
According to Doctors Without Borders, there is only enough food to treat malnourished children in the Zamzam Camp for another two weeks. Doctors Without Borders has had to cap the number of children who receive this treatment, because the RSF have blocked supply trucks.
“Since the beginning of this conflict, the United States has called on the international community to care more, to give more, and to do more,” said Ambassador Wood. The United States has led by example by providing over $1.6 billion in assistance to Sudan and neighboring countries since the conflict began in 2023.
“But right now, the RSF and SAF must remove barriers to aid and allow desperately needed food, water, and medicine to flow freely and at multiple entry points, across borders and conflict lines,” he said. “They must also participate constructively in ceasefire talks and silence the guns once and for all.”
The United States urges Generals Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Hemedti to attend the ceasefire talks in Switzerland on August 14.
“There is no military solution to this war,” said Ambassador Wood. “The toll is being measured in the tragic loss of civilian lives, displacement of millions from their homes; acute malnourishment; rape, torture, and other ill-treatment; and ethnic cleansing.”