Sudan is experiencing a famine that could surpass any seen since Ethiopia 40 years ago, according to US officials. Aid deliveries are being obstructed by ongoing conflicts, while arms continue to reach both warring sides. Despite the global focus on Gaza, another human-made famine, Sudan is currently the world’s worst humanitarian crisis and is edging towards a disaster of historic proportions, with minimal media coverage and international attention. The UN’s humanitarian appeal for Sudan has only received 16% of the necessary funding.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the UN, emphasized the urgent need for global awareness of the unfolding catastrophe. She addressed reporters as El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and a former humanitarian hub, entered its second month under siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The RSF, a paramilitary group, has been in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023, following a power struggle between two rival generals: Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the SAF and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, of the RSF. This civil war has resulted in 14,000 deaths and displaced 10 million people. The UN Security Council adopted a UK-drafted resolution on Thursday, calling for an end to the siege of El Fasher. However, fighting intensified on Friday, with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) claiming to have repelled a major assault by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), causing “huge losses.”
Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development, expressed concerns about the fate of those sheltering in El Fasher if the town falls to the RSF. The RSF is primarily composed of former Janjaweed militias, notorious for committing massacres during the Darfur genocide from 2003 to 2005.
On Friday, she announced $315 million in new US humanitarian aid for Sudan but noted that little of it was reaching isolated communities. Both sides have been accused of using food access as a weapon in the conflict.
She stated that current data indicates the crisis could be “comparable to or potentially worse” than the 2011 famine in Somalia, which resulted in the deaths of 250,000 people.
“I would add that the most worrying scenario would be that Sudan would become the deadliest famine since Ethiopia in the early 1980s,” she added.
