United Nations: Rhino – The United Nations has warned that famine in Sudan is ‘imminent’ if humanitarian agencies continue to be prevented from delivering relief to those in need. In a grim assessment of the situation in Sudan, the heads of 19 global humanitarian organizations – 12 of them UN agencies – issued a warning that increasing obstacles to the ‘rapid and widespread’ delivery of aid means ‘more people will die’.

In their statement, the humanitarian agencies called on the warring parties to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian access and adopt a nationwide ceasefire.

At a press conference in Geneva on Friday, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson Yannes Larcher said that famine ‘is likely to take hold in large parts of the country, more people will flee to neighboring countries, children will be exposed to disease and malnutrition, and women and girls will face more suffering and risks.’

Some 18 million people in the country are already suffering from severe hunger, and 3.6 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition, the UN spokesman said. These children are at high risk, he said, as they are ‘10 to 11 times more likely to die’ than adolescents who receive enough food.

Systematic obstacles:

Despite growing needs, aid workers continue to face ‘systematic impediments and deliberate denial of access by parties to the conflict,’ according to the joint statement by humanitarian agencies.

‘Movements across conflict lines to parts of Khartoum, Darfur, Gezira and Kordofan have been halted since mid-December,’ Mr Laraque stressed, adding that in March and April this year, nearly 860,000 people were denied humanitarian assistance in these areas.

Conditions for aid delivery are ‘extremely poor and dangerous’, he added, emphasizing that aid workers are being killed, injured and harassed, while humanitarian supplies are being looted. In addition, the closure of the Adré border crossing from Chad to West Darfur in February has reduced aid delivery in Darfur to a ‘meagre’ level.

Movements in Darfur:

In a more positive development last week, World Food Program (WFP) trucks were able to enter Sudan from Chad through the Tine border crossing. The UN agency reported that 1,200 metric tons of food supplies for 116,000 people across the Darfur region were transported.

WFP Sudan’s Leni Kinsley confirmed that convoys to Central Darfur have reached their final destination, while convoys to 12 destinations in South Darfur, including displacement camps in Nyala, are still in transit.

‘We want these two generals to find a way to resolve their differences not through violence – which is killing, maiming and raping hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan – but to do it another way,’ said Mr Larcher, referring to the leaders of the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Low funding:

Expressing concern about the low levels of funding for the crisis response, humanitarian organizations also called on donors to urgently honor the commitments made at the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan held in Paris on 15 April.

Nearly five months into the year, Sudan’s $2.7 billion humanitarian appeal for Sudan is only 16 per cent funded.