Sudan Ravaged By Disease, Famine, and War

A Sudanese child residing in a displacement camp in Tawila, located in the northern region of Darfur. Credit: UNICEF/Mohammed Jamal

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 25 2024 (IPS)

As living conditions in Sudan deteriorate as a result of the Sudanese Civil War, levels of famine and violations of international humanitarian law continue to accelerate among the roughly 11.5 million displaced persons. Conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have severely hampered aid efforts, leaving millions of civilians to deal with widespread disease and an overall lack of essential resources.

New data from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) shows that South Sudan has been hit the hardest by famine, with roughly 57 percent of the population projected to be acutely food insecure through the 2025 lean season. Children will be disproportionately affected, with many facing the highest levels of hunger and malnutrition on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale.

Since the wake of the civil war, nearly 30,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to Tuti Island, a small island in Sudan that borders the Nile. In April 2023, the RSF had besieged the island, transforming it into an “open-air prison” that teems with disease and insecurity. As of October of this year, most of the refugees residing on Tuti have returned to the mainland. The latest study from the IPC shows that nearly 85 percent of returnees will be faced with catastrophic hunger as of early next year.

UNICEF’s representative’s South Sudan Hamida Lasseko reports that due to malnutrition and compromised water sanitation systems in Sudan, waterborne diseases have begun to spread among displaced populations. Hunger has decimated the immune systems of displaced populations, leaving them highly vulnerable to malaria, dengue fever, and cholera.

A study conducted by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports more than 28,000 cases of cholera and 836 deaths from July 2024 to October 2024. Dengue fever has surged in the Kassala and Khartoum regions, with 4,544 cases and 12 deaths as of October 28. It is noted that cases likely exceed what is reported.

“We are racing against time. With heavy rains and flooding, diseases can spread more rapidly and severely worsen the outlook for the children in the affected states and beyond,” says Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative to Sudan.

Civilians continue to get caught in the crossfires of this war, leading to an increasing number of civilian casualties. Due to the scale of fighting in the state capital, Khartoum, it is difficult for experts to determine the exact number of lives lost from war-related causes.

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Sudan Research Group estimates that although the majority of deaths observed in Sudan are from disease and malnutrition, there are an estimated 26,000 people who have succumbed to injuries as a “direct result of violence” in the Khartoum state.

In Darfur, a region located in Sudan’s west, there are predicted to be many more casualties, along with reports of ethnic cleansing and violations of international humanitarian law. According to a press release from Amnesty International, French military technology is being used by the two warring parties, which is in clear violation of the UN arms embargo.

“Our research shows that weaponry designed and manufactured in France is in active use on the battlefield in Sudan. The Galix System is being deployed by the RSF in this conflict, and any use in Darfur would be a clear breach of the UN arms embargo. All countries must immediately cease direct and indirect supplies of all arms and ammunition to the warring parties in Sudan,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary-General, Amnesty International.

Due to extensive conflict between the warring parties, healthcare systems have been severely damaged, leading to a lack of critical assistance for millions of people that are grappling with disease and/or those who face war-related injuries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), roughly 70 to 80 percent of Sudan’s medical facilities are non or partly functional. This is primarily due to a lack of funding and warring parties looting the facilities, leaving medical equipment damaged.

“It’s extremely dire. Sudanese colleagues are facing shortages of essential medicines. There was a point not too long ago when 85 of our staff there were sick, many with severe malaria, and we didn’t even have treatment for them. They’re often sheltering in camps while trying to continue to work, and then they get sick and we can’t look after them,” said Avril Benoît, Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in the United States.

Benoît adds that relief responses from the international community have been largely inadequate in mitigating the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. This is primarily due to a lack of funding. As of October, the United Nations’ 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Sudan has reached only 57 percent funding out of the required 2.7 billion dollars. This greatly impacts aid efforts and leaves humanitarian organizations unable to scale up responses.

On November 13, Sudanese authorities allowed for humanitarian aid trucks to access the Adre crossing for another 3 months. Humanitarian organizations predict that the Adre crossing will be an indispensable route for aid deliveries as it allows for highly vulnerable populations in Darfur to be reached through Chad.

Clementine Nkweta-Salami, United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan has said that the humanitarians in Sudan welcome this decision, for the Adre crossing is a “critical lifeline” for the vulnerable people across the country but especially in Darfur. “Keeping the Adre border open means humanitarians can continue to deliver emergency food and nutrition supplies, medicine, shelter, and other life-saving assistance to hundreds of thousands of hungry, malnourished mothers and children, people suffering from diseases, and others that desperately need these supplies.”

IPS UN Bureau Report