Sudan: 11 Million Displaced Persons: “Crisis Worsens Rapidly”

The humanitarian crisis in Sudan continues to worsen, and millions of people are in urgent need of assistance.

This is a call from United Nations agencies asking for an “international response” and explaining why there are 11 million displaced persons due to the conflict and that access to basic services, such as safe water, health care, and shelter, is severely limited.

“An estimated 13 million people face acute food insecurity. 14 regions of the country are on the brink of famine, and famine conditions have already been confirmed in the Zamzam camp in northern Darfur. This year alone, 3.7 million children under the age of five are expected to be acutely malnourished and in urgent need of life-saving assistance,” said the statement signed by Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations at the World Health Organization, and Ted Chaiban, Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF.

Among the calls to try to stem the situation are those for United Nations agencies delivering aid to be authorized by government to access and stay for extended periods of time in the most affected communities, as well as increase in cross-border operations between Chad and Sudan.

António Guterres, the UN Secretary General, intervened and denounced before the UN Security Council the fact that the Sudanese people are suffering more each day, living a nightmare of hunger, disease, and massive ethnic violence, especially in Darfur. “The suffering increases every day and the people of Sudan are living a nightmare of violence, with thousands of civilians killed and countless others facing unspeakable atrocities, including widespread rape and sexual violence.”