Sudan’s agriculture minister says there is no famine in the country

Sudan’s agriculture minister said there is no famine in the country and cast doubt on U.N.-backed data that 755,000 are experiencing catastrophic hunger, rejecting the idea of aid agencies overriding cross-border delivery restrictions.

Sudan has become the world’s worst hunger crisis since the outbreak of a war between the Sudanese army, whose head is also Sudan’s head of state, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who have taken over wide swathes of the country.

“755,000 citizens are not a significant percentage compared to the total population … they cannot call that famine,” said Abubakr al-Bushra, in a news conference in Port Sudan, the country’s de facto capital.

Sudan has a population of 50 million.

The army has blocked aid and commerce from entering RSF-controlled areas, while supplies that reach those areas are expensive and frequently stolen, often by RSF soldiers, residents and aid agencies say.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an initiative of U.N. agencies, regional bodies and aid groups, had in late June said that while half the population were experiencing acute hunger, there were 14 spots across the country at risk of famine.

Famine can be declared if at least 20% of the population in an area experience catastrophic hunger, and thresholds on child malnutrition and death from starvation are met.

Al-Bushra cast doubt on experts’ ability to measure data in RSF-controlled areas, and said the malnutrition indicators had not yet been determined.

Following the IPC data, an independent committee could declare a famine, potentially triggering Security Council orders overriding army restrictions on which crossings could be used for aid deliveries.

Al-Bushra said the government rejected such orders.

“We reject the opening of our borders by force because that could open the borders with opposing states, borders that the militia controls,” he said, while another official cast such a move as part of a conspiracy against the country.

Aid agencies say al-Tina, the only crossing authorised by the government into the Darfur region, where most of the famine-risk hotspots are, is inaccessible due to rains. The army says that Adre, the crossing into West Darfur that aid agencies are asking to access, has been used to supply the RSF with weapons.