Sudan – UN experts confirmed that about 97 percent of Sudan’s population faces “dangerous levels of hunger,” accusing both sides of the conflict of using “starvation methods” against 25 million civilians.
The experts said that about 10 experts were appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council, but they do not speak on behalf of this international body. “Never before in modern history has such a large number of people faced famine as is the case in Sudan today.”
The experts added, in a statement, that “the world must pay attention to the largest famine in the modern era that is being embodied in Sudan today,” and they called on both the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces to “immediately stop obstructing the delivery of aid in Sudan.”
They explained that “the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, along with the external parties supporting them, bear responsibility for the apparently deliberate use of starvation, which falls within the framework of crimes against humanity and war crimes under international law.”
About 25 million people face severe food insecurity, as famine was declared in the Zamzam camp for displaced people in the Darfur region in western Sudan, and experts warned that other camps for displaced people in the region also face the “risk of famine.”
Aid barely reaches Zamzam and the surrounding area, and only small amounts of aid have reached the entire Darfur region since the pro-military government reopened the Adre crossing with Chad this month.
The experts said, “The amount of aid currently arriving through this corridor is not sufficient to meet the needs of the population.”
They pointed out that the floods brought with it by the rainy season exacerbated the suffering, adding that “the damage to agriculture and losses to livestock is significant, while mining and water pollution complicate the crisis.”
A war has been raging since April last year between the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti), and both sides were accused of committing war crimes, including targeting civilians and preventing the arrival of humanitarian aid.
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