As famine ravages Sudan, the UN can’t get food to starving millions
Published: 06:09 PM,Sep 27,2024 | EDITED : 10:09 PM,Sep 27,2024
Maggie Michael
More than half the people in this nation of 50 million are suffering from severe hunger. Hundreds are estimated to be dying from starvation and hunger-related disease each day.
But life-saving international aid - cooking oil, salt, grain, lentils and more - is unable to reach millions of people who desperately need it. Among them is Raous Fleg, a 39-year-old mother of nine. She lives in a sprawling displaced persons camp in Boram county, in the state of South Kordofan, sheltering from fighting sparked by the civil war between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary called the Rapid Support Forces.
Since Fleg arrived nine months ago, United Nations food aid has gotten through only once - back in May. Her family’s share ran out in 10 days, she said. The camp, home to an estimated 50,000 people, is in an area run by local fighters who hold about half the state. The Sudanese army won’t let most food aid cross the lines of control into the area, aid officials say.
So, every day after dawn, Fleg and other emaciated women from the camp make a two-hour trek to a forest to pick leaves off bushes. On a recent outing, several ate the leaves raw, to dull their hunger. Back at the camp, the women cooked the leaves, boiling them in a pot of water sprinkled with tamarind seeds to blunt the bitter taste.
For Fleg and the thousands of others in the camp, the barely edible mush is a daily staple. It isn’t enough. Some have starved to death, camp medics say. Fleg’s mother is one of them.
'I came here and found nothing to eat,” said Fleg. 'There are days when I don’t know if I’m alive or dead.”
The world has an elaborate global system to monitor and tackle hunger in vulnerable lands. It consists of United Nations agencies, non-governmental aid groups and Western donor countries led by the United States. They provide technical expertise to identify hunger zones and billions of dollars in funding each year to feed people.
Sudan is a stark example of what happens when the final, critical stage in that intricate system - the delivery of food to the starving - breaks down. And it exposes a shaky premise on which the system rests: that governments in famine-stricken countries will welcome the help.
Sometimes, in Sudan and elsewhere, governments and warring parties block crucial aid providers - including the UN’s main food-relief arm, the World Food Program (WFP) - from getting food to the starving. And these organisations are sometimes incapable or fearful of pushing back.
In August, the world’s leading hunger monitor reported that the war in Sudan and restrictions on aid delivery have caused famine in at least one location, in the state of North Darfur, and that other areas of the country were potentially experiencing famine. Earlier, the hunger watchdog, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), announced that nine million people - almost a fifth of Sudan’s population - are in a food emergency or worse, meaning immediate action is needed to save lives.
It was just the fourth time the IPC has issued a famine finding since it was set up 20 years ago. But despite this year’s dire warnings, the vast majority of Sudanese who desperately need food aid aren’t getting it. A major stumbling block: the main provider of aid, the United Nations relief agencies, won’t dispense aid in places without the approval of Sudan’s army-backed government, which the world body recognises as sovereign.
Parts of Sudan have become a 'humanitarian desert,” said Christos Christou, the president of Doctors Without Borders, which is active on the ground in Darfur. The UN is in 'hibernation mode,” he said.
People are dying in the meantime: An analysis of satellite imagery found that graveyards in Darfur are expanding fast as starvation and attendant diseases take hold. More than 100 people are perishing every day from starvation, the UK’s Africa minister, Ray Collins, told parliament this month.
Aid is being distributed far more widely in areas controlled by the army. But relief workers say the military doesn’t want food falling into the hands of enemy forces in areas it doesn’t control and is using starvation tactics against civilians to destabilise these areas. The army-backed government, now based in Port Sudan, has held up aid delivery by denying or delaying travel permits and clearances, making it tough to access areas controlled by an opposing faction.
In internal meeting minutes reviewed by Reuters, UN and NGO logistics coordinators have reported for four months in a row, from May to August, that Sudanese authorities are refusing to issue travel permits for aid convoys to places in South Kordofan and Darfur. - Reuters
Text by:
Maggie Michael
The writer is an investigative journalist at Reuters
Thomas Mukoya
The writer is a photojournalist at Thomson Reuters
But life-saving international aid - cooking oil, salt, grain, lentils and more - is unable to reach millions of people who desperately need it. Among them is Raous Fleg, a 39-year-old mother of nine. She lives in a sprawling displaced persons camp in Boram county, in the state of South Kordofan, sheltering from fighting sparked by the civil war between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary called the Rapid Support Forces.
Since Fleg arrived nine months ago, United Nations food aid has gotten through only once - back in May. Her family’s share ran out in 10 days, she said. The camp, home to an estimated 50,000 people, is in an area run by local fighters who hold about half the state. The Sudanese army won’t let most food aid cross the lines of control into the area, aid officials say.
So, every day after dawn, Fleg and other emaciated women from the camp make a two-hour trek to a forest to pick leaves off bushes. On a recent outing, several ate the leaves raw, to dull their hunger. Back at the camp, the women cooked the leaves, boiling them in a pot of water sprinkled with tamarind seeds to blunt the bitter taste.
For Fleg and the thousands of others in the camp, the barely edible mush is a daily staple. It isn’t enough. Some have starved to death, camp medics say. Fleg’s mother is one of them.
'I came here and found nothing to eat,” said Fleg. 'There are days when I don’t know if I’m alive or dead.”
The world has an elaborate global system to monitor and tackle hunger in vulnerable lands. It consists of United Nations agencies, non-governmental aid groups and Western donor countries led by the United States. They provide technical expertise to identify hunger zones and billions of dollars in funding each year to feed people.
Sudan is a stark example of what happens when the final, critical stage in that intricate system - the delivery of food to the starving - breaks down. And it exposes a shaky premise on which the system rests: that governments in famine-stricken countries will welcome the help.
Sometimes, in Sudan and elsewhere, governments and warring parties block crucial aid providers - including the UN’s main food-relief arm, the World Food Program (WFP) - from getting food to the starving. And these organisations are sometimes incapable or fearful of pushing back.
In August, the world’s leading hunger monitor reported that the war in Sudan and restrictions on aid delivery have caused famine in at least one location, in the state of North Darfur, and that other areas of the country were potentially experiencing famine. Earlier, the hunger watchdog, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), announced that nine million people - almost a fifth of Sudan’s population - are in a food emergency or worse, meaning immediate action is needed to save lives.
It was just the fourth time the IPC has issued a famine finding since it was set up 20 years ago. But despite this year’s dire warnings, the vast majority of Sudanese who desperately need food aid aren’t getting it. A major stumbling block: the main provider of aid, the United Nations relief agencies, won’t dispense aid in places without the approval of Sudan’s army-backed government, which the world body recognises as sovereign.
Parts of Sudan have become a 'humanitarian desert,” said Christos Christou, the president of Doctors Without Borders, which is active on the ground in Darfur. The UN is in 'hibernation mode,” he said.
People are dying in the meantime: An analysis of satellite imagery found that graveyards in Darfur are expanding fast as starvation and attendant diseases take hold. More than 100 people are perishing every day from starvation, the UK’s Africa minister, Ray Collins, told parliament this month.
Aid is being distributed far more widely in areas controlled by the army. But relief workers say the military doesn’t want food falling into the hands of enemy forces in areas it doesn’t control and is using starvation tactics against civilians to destabilise these areas. The army-backed government, now based in Port Sudan, has held up aid delivery by denying or delaying travel permits and clearances, making it tough to access areas controlled by an opposing faction.
In internal meeting minutes reviewed by Reuters, UN and NGO logistics coordinators have reported for four months in a row, from May to August, that Sudanese authorities are refusing to issue travel permits for aid convoys to places in South Kordofan and Darfur. - Reuters
Text by:
Maggie Michael
The writer is an investigative journalist at Reuters
Thomas Mukoya
The writer is a photojournalist at Thomson Reuters