Sudan on brink of collapse and starvation as country marks one year of civil war

By Stephanie Busari, Eve Brennan, Sarah Dean and Jennifer Hansler, CNN

(CNN) — As Sudan marks the grim anniversary of a year-long conflict, aid agencies have warned that the country teeters on the edge of collapse, facing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that has been largely ignored by the rest of the world.

Islamic Relief, a humanitarian and development agency, painted a stark picture of Sudan’s situation, warning that it is on the brink of mass famine, with young children facing the prospect of starving to death.

The situation in Sudan is dire, with over 8.4 million people, including 2 million children under the age of 5, forced to flee their homes in the wake of the conflict, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Despite these alarming figures, the international response has been woefully inadequate, with only 5% of the 2024 humanitarian response plan for Sudan funded thus far, Islamic Relief said in a statement.

The agency’s country director for Sudan, Elsadig Elnour, said: “Over the past year I’ve seen my country descend into violence, madness, and destruction, neglected by the rest of the world.”

The conflict, which has pitted the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) against the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has left millions displaced and countless civilians dead or severely injured.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk warned in a statement Monday of a further escalation in violence in Sudan “as parties to the conflict arm civilians, and more armed groups join the fighting.”

Since the start of the civil war, thousands of homes, schools, hospitals, and other vital civilian structures have been destroyed, “plunging the country into a severe humanitarian crisis, and creating the world’s largest displacement crisis,” his office said.

“Nearly 18 million people face acute food insecurity, 14 million of them children, and over 70 percent of hospitals are no longer functional amid a rise in infectious diseases,” Türk added.

On Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned “crimes against humanity” were potentially being committed in the country, adding that recent reports of escalating hostilities in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, were a “fresh cause for deep alarm.”

Over the weekend, RSF-affiliated militias attacked and burned villages west of El Fasher, leading to “widespread new displacement,” Guterres said. Fighting continued Monday on the outskirts of El Fasher, he added.

“Let me be clear: Any attack on El Fasher would be devastating for civilians and could lead to full-blown intercommunal conflict across Darfur,” Guterres warned.

Breaking the ‘wall of silence’

The warnings come as a donor conference is being held in France on Monday, which French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné said was aimed at supporting mediation attempts, improving coordination across the international community and providing support to Sudanese civilians.

Speaking at a press conference in Paris alongside his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, he said: “We’re here today to break this wall of silence around this conflict and mobilize all the international community.”

“Today we demonstrate that we will not forget the suffering of the people in Sudan,” said Baerbock, adding that the humanitarian situation in the war-torn country is “really disastrous.”

A CNN investigation found that almost 700 men and 65 children had been forcibly recruited by Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over a three-month period in Jazira state alone.

A lawyer with the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies, Mohamed Badawi, told CNN then that the RSF’s coercive and violent tactics were akin to an “enforced labor system,” saying that people could be arrested if they didn’t “kill for” the RSF.

A lack of response

Doctors Without Borders on Friday called on leaders attending the Paris conference “to immediately scale up the humanitarian response” in Sudan. The charity claimed that a “chronic lack of response from humanitarian organizations and the UN have made an already dire situation in Sudan desperate,” as “Sudanese authorities systematically block the delivery of aid to some areas, while the RSF has looted health facilities and supplies.”

Mohamed Osman, Sudan researcher at Human Rights Watch, also said that “the global response to Sudan’s brutal conflict needs to change.”

Osman urged leaders to hold those responsible for atrocities and violations of international humanitarian law to account.

“The warring parties in Sudan have inflicted tremendous suffering on Sudanese from all walks of life,” he said. “Leaders meeting in Paris should act to tackle the shamefully low levels of humanitarian funding, including for local responders, and commit to concrete measures against those deliberately hampering aid delivery to populations in need.”

A specific date for peace talks has not been decided yet, according to US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello.

He said at a State Department briefing that Saudi Arabia was planning to host inclusive talks, and they hoped to announce a date soon. Previously, Perriello had indicated that talks might resume around mid-April, after Ramadan, possibly on April 18.

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