The United Nations Food Program announced on Monday that at least 25 million people are suffering from “high rates of hunger and malnutrition” in Sudan.
The program said in a statement: “The crisis in Sudan is sending shock waves throughout the region, with thousands of families displaced and forced to cross the border into Chad and South Sudan every week.”
He stated that the impact of the conflict includes three countries: Sudan, South Sudan and Chad, “and has created the largest displacement crisis in the world,” and noted that “the devastating hunger catastrophe is approaching as food and nutrition needs rise throughout the three countries.”
He also added: “There are 18 million people suffering from acute food insecurity inside the country, and about 3.8 million Sudanese children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition, most of whom are trapped in areas of ongoing fighting.”
The statement quoted World Food Program Regional Director for East Africa Michael Dunford as saying: “Children and women who cross into South Sudan or Chad suffer from hunger and arrive without resources.”
He added: “We need to be able to provide support to families in Sudan to avoid turning the largest displacement crisis in the world into a hunger disaster.”
He pointed out that rates of hunger and acute malnutrition have increased in Sudan since the outbreak of the conflict in mid-April last year.
He also pointed out that the World Food Program faces a funding gap of about 300 million US dollars during the next six months.
Since mid-April 2023, the Sudanese army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo “Hemedti” have been waging a war.
It left more than 13,000 dead and more than 7 million displaced and refugees, according to the United Nations.
