The United Nations food agency said Friday it had received reports of people starving to death in Sudan. In Sudan, fierce fighting between rival generals is disrupting aid and food supplies to the country’s hungriest people.
Ten months of conflict between the Sudanese army, led by General Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, a powerful militia led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, has devastated large swathes of the northeastern African country. It became.
The conflict broke out in the capital Khartoum in April last year and quickly spread to other parts of the country after months of heightened tensions between the two sides.
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According to the World Food Program, around 18 million people across Sudan currently face severe hunger, with the most desperate people trapped on the front lines of the conflict.
Smoke rises over Khartoum, Sudan, on June 8, 2023, as civil war continues between the African country’s military and militias. (AP photo, file)
Hotspots include Khartoum, the western region of Darfur, and Kordofan and Gezira states. These areas have their supplies at risk due to road closures, tax demands and security threats.
“Lifesaving aid is not reaching those who need it most, and we are already receiving reports of people dying of starvation,” said WFP Sudan director Eddie Lowe.
The United Nations says at least 12,000 people have been killed in the conflict, but local doctors’ groups say the real death toll is much higher. More than 10.7 million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations migration agency.
Dagalo’s militia appears to have gained the upper hand in the past three months of conflict, with fighters advancing east and north across Sudan’s central belt. Both countries have been accused of war crimes by rights groups.
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Africa’s regional partners, along with Saudi Arabia and the United States, are working to mediate an end to the conflict, after several rounds of indirect negotiations between the parties to the conflict were unsuccessful. Burhan and Dagalo have yet to meet in person since the conflict began.
