Sudan faces famine as world looks away, NRC chief warns

November 23, 2024 (KHARTOUM) – The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) issued a stark warning on Wednesday, saying the world is ignoring a humanitarian catastrophe of epic proportions unfolding in Sudan, where millions teeter on the brink of famine.

“This is the world’s worst crisis, but we are met with deafening silence,” NRC Secretary-General Jan Egeland said after a visit to the conflict-ridden country. “We must wake up the world before famine engulfs a generation of children.”

Egeland, who visited Darfur and eastern Sudan, described widespread violence and displacement. “Entire villages destroyed, civilians executed, women raped,” he said, highlighting the devastating impact of indiscriminate attacks. More than 2,500 people were killed and over 250,000 displaced in October alone, he said. The conflict has triggered the largest displacement crisis globally, with 11 million people uprooted within Sudan and another 3 million seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.

“In Darfur, I met women barely surviving, eating one meal of boiled leaves a day,” Egeland said. An estimated 24 million people – half of Sudan’s population – are facing acute food insecurity, with 1.5 million on the verge of famine.

He condemned the warring parties, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), for obstructing aid access and using hunger as a weapon. “Each delay, every blocked truck, every authorisation delayed is a death sentence for families,” he said.

The humanitarian response remains severely underfunded. “Soup kitchens in Khartoum, a last lifeline for thousands, have now closed down because promised funds have not come through,” Egeland said, adding that current resources are “merely delaying deaths instead of preventing them.”

Egeland called for urgent international action, criticizing the weak global response. “A tweet of concern is not enough,” he said. “The world’s inaction is nothing short of a green light for further suffering. Sudan needs a global emergency response on par with the scale of this crisis.”