Half of Sudan’s population require relief aid, protection: UN
September 19, 2023 (KHATOUM) – Half of the population or 24.7 million people in Sudan need humanitarian aid and protection, the United Nations said.
Sudan, the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA) said, was grappling with a protracted economic crisis and pre-existing conflicts in parts of the country before its current fighting involving the national army (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Over the past three years, it stated, there has been a notable rise in the number of people in need of assistance, surging from 50.1 million in 2021 to 73 million in 2023 in Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan.
“This year, humanitarian partners are aiming to reach 51.9 million people with life-saving assistance, a 19 per cent increase compared to 2022,” noted OCHA.
It further added, “This includes 2.4 million people in CAR, 4.4 million in Chad, 20.1 million in Ethiopia, 6.8 million in South Sudan and 18.1 million in Sudan”.
According the UN humanitarian agency, despite these pressing needs and overstretched resources, funding remains inadequate to respond at scale.
“The total requirement for humanitarian response plans in Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan in 2023 amounts to US$9.7 billion, of which only 3.2 billion have been received to date,” it stressed.
Similarly, for the regional refugee response plan covering the same countries and seeking $1 billion, only $266 million have been received, OCHA said in its bulletin.
Last week, the humanitarian agency cautioned that situation in Sudan will get immeasurably worse unless urgent action is taken by the international community.
Five months of brutal conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, have fueled a humanitarian crisis of epic and tragic proportions
The fighting, OCHA said, has displaced more than 5.25 million people inside and outside the country since clashes erupted between rival miliary forces on 15 April.
This, according to the UN humanitarian agency, includes more than 1 million people who have fled across Sudan’s borders to the neighbouring countries.
“This devastating conflict – coupled with hunger, disease, displacement and destruction of livelihoods – threatens to consume the entire country,” it stated.
At least 20.3 million people across Sudan are acutely food insecure and need food and livelihood assistance between July and September 2023, according to the latest integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on the war-torn nation.
(ST)