Rhino: Agencies – The famine in a camp for displaced people in war-torn Sudan is a “stain” on the conscience of the international community that has failed to prevent it despite multiple warnings, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Last week, the international committee responsible for assessing food insecurity declared a state of famine in Zamzam camp, near the besieged city of El Fasher in Darfur. Addressing the UN Security Council, Stephen Omollo, assistant executive director of the World Food Program, said it was the first time the committee had confirmed a famine in more than seven years, and only the third time since its monitoring system was launched two decades ago. “We have made it clear that famine is a real and serious possibility, but our warnings have fallen on deaf ears,” he said. The crisis has not received the political and diplomatic attention it desperately needs, he said, expressing his hope that the famine declaration would serve as a “wake-up call”. Omollo emphasized that a ceasefire remains the only sustainable solution, which will prevent the famine from spreading further.
