Sudan's worsening crisis
Sudan’s war has driven a deepening humanitarian collapse, with Khartoum described as ‘a city of graves’ and aid groups reporting millions now survive on a single meal a day. ( ) Multiple counts put 61.7% of the population—about 28.9 million people—in acute food insecurity, and UN-linked reporting estimates roughly 14 million people have been displaced as the health system collapses. ( ) Diplomacy shows only limited progress: civilians were included at recent Berlin talks, but the RSF has only verbally accepted a proposed humanitarian truce while army chief Abdel Fattah al‑Burhan is demanding conditions described as tantamount to surrender. (thenationalnews.com)
Millions of people in Sudan are now surviving on one meal a day as the war nears its third anniversary on April 15. (aljazeera.com) A report released April 13 by Action Against Hunger, CARE, the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps and the Norwegian Refugee Council said fighting has broken the chain that moves food from farms to markets to homes. The groups said families in parts of North Darfur and South Kordofan are eating once a day or less. (care.org) The same report said nearly 28.9 million people in Sudan face acute hunger, or 61.7 percent of the population, and more than 755,000 are in catastrophic conditions. The Norwegian Refugee Council said more than 80 percent of households surveyed inside Sudan had reduced meals in the previous month. (nrc.no, reliefweb.int) Sudan’s war began on April 15, 2023, when a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces exploded into open fighting in Khartoum and other cities. Three years later, the United Nations says about 14 million people have been forced to flee, including 9 million displaced inside Sudan and 4.4 million across borders. (unhcr.org) The United Nations said on April 10 that Sudan’s health system “lies in ruins” as attacks on medical care continue and hunger spreads. The World Health Organization said in January that 1,000 days of conflict had pushed the health system to the brink of collapse. (news.un.org, who.int) Khartoum shows how far the collapse has gone. The Los Angeles Times reported on April 12 that whole neighborhoods are shattered, services are scarce and residents describe the capital as a “city of graves.” (latimes.com) Aid groups say the food crisis is not only about crops failing. Their report says farms have been destroyed, roads and markets have been attacked or shut, and armed groups have imposed taxes and siege conditions that block food from moving. (actionagainsthunger.org) Diplomacy is still moving, but slowly. The National reported on April 13 that former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok said civilians were included in recent Berlin talks, while the Rapid Support Forces only verbally accepted a proposed humanitarian truce and army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan kept demanding terms his opponents described as surrender. (thenationalnews.com) Sudan is entering a fourth year of war with fighting still active in Darfur, the Kordofans and Blue Nile, and with one in four Sudanese displaced. The immediate measure of any talks is simpler than the diplomacy around them: whether food, medicine and civilians can move safely again. (unhcr.org, news.un.org)
