On Tuesday, August 15, the fourth month of what began as a power struggle in Sudan that threatened to turn the nation into a war began. A spokesman for the U.N. human rights office named Liz Throssell estimates that at least 4,000 people have died. Every day that the conflict lasts, lives are lost, there is destruction, and both sides violate human rights.
Omdurman volunteer Samy Talat expresses his sadness over the deaths of civilians as a result of inadequate access to prompt medical care. Today, a mother and her daughter were injured when a bomb went off in a building close to the hospital. “We brought the injured to the hospital, but it was closed, so we had to use social media to find a doctor. Unfortunately, the mother passed away, and only the daughter is still alive. We were able to contact a doctor.”
The armed conflict has caused services in almost 200 hospitals nationwide to be suspended, the health ministry announced on Monday, August 13. Sudan has been thrust into a severe humanitarian catastrophe since the fighting began on April 15, and the UN has issued warnings about widespread sexual assault and arbitrary deaths. According to U.N. authorities, the RSF and its affiliated Arab militias are using ethnic violence against ‘African’ communities in the Darfur region of western Sudan.
The chiefs of twenty international organizations expressed their concern that “more than six million Sudanese people are one step away from famine” in a unified appeal. The leaders of several UN agencies, as well as groups like Save the Children and CARE, signed the declaration, which stated that “the situation is spiraling out of control.”
The signatories noted that over four million people have fled the violence, either as refugees to neighboring states or from the war-torn nation, and that over 14 million children require humanitarian relief. “Time is running out for farmers to plant the crops that will feed them and their neighbors,” they said at the same time. During the UN’s twice-weekly press briefing on Sudan on Tuesday, August 15, new demands for peace and accountability were presented.
A spokeswoman for the U.N. human rights office, Liz Throssell, said, “The High Commissioner has repeatedly stated that those in authority should give clear instructions to those under them that there is zero tolerance for sexual violence, and it’s so important to hold those accountable to make sure the perpetrators are held accountable and, of course, unequivocally condemn such violence.”
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The heads of international humanitarian organizations who convened in Geneva also demanded increased funding from the global community. According to the UN, it has only gotten 25% of the $2.57 billion it has requested to support citizens within Sudan and 31% of the $566 million it has asked for to assist those who have left as refugees in neighboring nations.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday, 20.3 million people, or 42% of the nation’s entire population, are suffering from severe acute hunger as a result of the conflict-related food scarcity. Roughly half of the population, or 24.7 million people, including 13 million children, are in need of humanitarian relief, according to U.N. statistics.
Only over 3 million people have received humanitarian aid from the United Nations and its partners as of right now. Aid deliveries to the isolated region have become more challenging due to a recent spike in violence in South Darfur state, according to David MacDonald, regional director for east and southern Africa at Care International. In the meantime, there is a growing chance that the nation may experience widespread outbreaks of infectious diseases, including cholera, dengue fever, and malaria.
