The United Nations has appealed for $4.1bn to meet the humanitarian needs of civilians in war-torn Sudan and to support those who fled the conflict to neighboring countries.
People displaced from Sudan's Jazira state gather at a temporary shelter in Gedaref in the country's east on December 28, 2023. The rapid advance of Sudanese paramilitaries has intensified calls on civilians to carry arms, raising the spectre of the eight-month conflict between rival generals transforming into full-blown civil war.
As the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) enters its tenth month, UN agencies reported on Wednesday that an estimated 25 million people, or half of Sudan's population, are in urgent need of humanitarian aid and protection.
More than 1.5 million people have fled across Sudan's borders to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan, revealed Al Jazeera.
"Sudan keeps getting forgotten by the international community," UN aid chief Martin Griffiths told diplomats in Geneva.
"There is a certain kind of obscenity about the humanitarian world, which is the competition of suffering, a competition between places: 'I have more suffering than you, so I need to get more attention, so I need to get more money.''" Griffiths said.
According to The Associated Press, The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs organizes the often-struggling aid response inside Sudan. UNHCR is seeking $1.4 billion to help nearly 2.7 million people who have fled to five neighboring countries.
United Nations officials are emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the distress caused by intense conflicts in places such as Sudan, Congo, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.
How Dire Is The Situation?
Per the article by AP, the United Nations says the war in Sudan has killed at least 12,000 people, although local doctors groups say the official toll is much higher than reported. Over 10.7 million people are displaced, according to the U.N. migration agency.
The U.N.'s World Food Program is reporting roughly 18 million people across Sudan currently face severe hunger, with the most dire caught behind the front lines, and an estimated 19 million children are out of school.
Amid the ongoing conflict, both the SAF and the RSF have been accused of committing war crimes, including indiscriminate shelling in residential areas, and the torture and arbitrary detention of civilians.
Sudan slipped into chaos after heightened tensions exploded into open fighting in mid-April in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country.
