Arabic version: تحذير تقوده بريطانيا من ارتفاع خطر المجاعة في السودان
According to Allafrica, a UK-led joint ministerial statement has urged Sudan’s warring parties to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid as food insecurity worsens. The warning, issued on 23 October by the UK and 31 international partners, says an estimated 19.5 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity, including 5 million at emergency levels.
The statement says Sudan’s food security is deteriorating alarmingly and that the risk of famine in coming months requires immediate action. It warns that the number of children suffering severe acute malnutrition could exceed the projected 825,000 unless the current trajectory is reversed. Areas affected by food insecurity, initially assessed at 14, are expected to double.
Conflict is the principal driver of the hunger crisis, the signatories said, citing mass displacement, damage to critical infrastructure and disruption to healthcare, food production, supply chains and markets. They also cited systematic obstruction of humanitarian aid and the effects of El Niño, which has reduced rainfall and increased drought across more than half of Sudan.
The partners called for full, safe, rapid and unhindered humanitarian access, protection for aid workers, and authorisation for operations across front lines and cross-border routes, including air access into Darfur. They also urged faster visa and customs procedures, the removal of additional permits, taxes and other requirements delaying aid, and stronger civil-military coordination to protect humanitarian personnel and facilities.
The General Coordination for Displaced Persons and Refugees called for an immediate halt to fighting and a humanitarian truce of at least 90 days, as a step towards a permanent ceasefire. Emergency Lawyers welcomed the ministerial statement and warned that failed agricultural conditions, water shortages, rising prices, movement restrictions, looting and obstruction of aid had deepened the humanitarian catastrophe. Both groups called for increased funding and access to food, medical assistance and other essential supplies.
