Sudanese people shopping from a store in Omdurman (Reuters)
A global food security body backed by the United Nations warned on Friday of the need to take immediate measures to “prevent widespread death and the complete collapse of livelihoods and avoid a catastrophic hunger crisis in Sudan.”
The IPC said it had reviewed the latest available evidence and published the warning yesterday “to express its grave concern” about the deteriorating situation and to press for immediate action to “prevent famine”.
The interim classification report yesterday, Friday, stated, “Without an immediate cessation of hostilities and a major deployment of humanitarian aid, the residents of Khartoum, Gezira, Greater Darfur, and Greater Kordofan states are at risk of reaching the worst levels of acute food insecurity and malnutrition during the next dry season, which will begin in April 2024.”
This classification was scheduled to issue an update to its analysis last December, which concluded that nearly 5 million people suffer from acute malnutrition, including 3.6 million children under the age of five and 1.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women.
It estimates that grain production was 46% lower than the previous year due to fighting in basic crop production areas during the peak harvest season, with food prices in the markets 73% higher than in the same period last year.
The United Nations Security Council this month called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, and the United States warned on Thursday that it would pressure the council to take action to deliver aid to people suffering from hunger in Sudan, perhaps by allowing aid to be delivered across the border with Chad.
The war broke out in Sudan on April 15, 2023 between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, and the United Nations said that nearly 25 million people - half the country's population - need assistance, and about 8 million have fled their homes.
Source: Reuters