Conflicts - Sudan expert: Humanitarian situation is getting worse
Former UN Special Envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes, warned of further deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the civil war-torn country. "It will get worse, as famine is imminent," said the political scientist on ZDF's "Morning Magazine."
Approximately 18 million people, which is nearly half of the population of the North Eastern African country, are threatened by acute hunger. "We have four, five children dying of hunger every day. And it will get worse over the next few weeks and months," he urged. In Sudan, the harvest season usually begins at this time of the year. However, due to the war, no seed could be delivered.
The Situation in Sudan
Since April 2023, the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been fighting for power in Sudan. The UN Security Council has called for an end to the fighting, but both parties have ignored this. The RSF allows its soldiers to loot and murder in captured cities, and the army predominantly uses air power, disregarding the civilian population, Perthes added. "Pressure is the only way to help the people. At least in the contested city of Al-Faschir, the capital of North Darfur in western Sudan, a local ceasefire must be enforced. This means pressure – above all on the militia through their regional allies. And we need to put pressure on the army through regional allies to allow humanitarian aid deliveries across the Chad border to Darfur."
At a donor conference in Paris in April, several countries pledged more than two billion Euros in aid to Sudan and its neighbors. Germany promised 244 million Euros for Sudan and its neighbors. However, the aid must also reach its destination, emphasized Perthes. The army prohibits all deliveries to areas controlled by the RSF. Over nine million inhabitants of the North Eastern African country are displaced within the country or have fled abroad, according to Perthes.
- The humanitarian situation in Sudan, a North Eastern African country, is seriously deteriorating, according to former UN Special Envoy for Sudan, Volker Perthes.
- Perthes warns that famine is imminent in Sudan, a potential catastrophe that threatens nearly half of the country's population.
- The ongoing conflicts between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan have significantly disrupted the harvest season, causing severe food shortages.
- The United Nations Security Council has called for an end to the fighting in Sudan, but the army and the RSF have failed to comply, leading to daily deaths of children due to hunger.
- In a plea for action, Perthes urges the international community to put pressure on both warring parties to enforce a local ceasefire in the contested city of Al-Faschir, the capital of North Darfur in western Sudan.
- At a donor conference in Paris in April, several countries pledged billions of Euros in aid to Sudan and its neighbors, including Germany, which promised 244 million Euros.
- However, despite these pledges, the aid must reach its destination, emphasized Perthes, as the army's prohibition on deliveries to areas controlled by the RSF has left over nine million Sudanese displaced or forced to flee abroad.
