WHO: Hunger forces more displacement as UN-hosted talks continue

Time is running out for starving civilians in Sudan, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday, while talks involving the country’s warring parties continue in Geneva this week.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s representative to Sudan, Dr. Shible Sahbani, told journalists that during his mission to neighbouring Chad last week, desperate refugees told him that “the main reason they left Sudan now is hunger, is famine”.

“They said it’s not insecurity, it’s not lack of access to basic services, but because we have nothing to eat there,” he stressed.

Speaking from Port Sudan, Dr. Sahbani spoke of his shock when a woman who had fled Darfur and reached Adré just past Chad’s eastern border told him that “whatever we use to produce [food] locally, to eat, was taken by fighters”. She had walked for three days with her children in search of safety, without food for the entire journey.

Chad hosts over 700,000 of the more than two million refugees who have escaped the war in Sudan, while over 10 million others are internally displaced within the country.

WHO stressed that those who fled the conflict to neighbouring countries continue to face “extremely limited” access to humanitarian assistance, including health care.

The host community and Government in Chad have been “very generous,” Dr. Sahbani said. “They welcomed the refugees, they opened their homes, their systems. But, you know, the systems were already overstretched and they tried to share whatever they have. But at a certain point now the system is really overwhelmed.”

The Chadians he spoke to last week said that they had nothing left to share, and that situation was already difficult in the country before Sudan’s conflict erupted in April 2023.

Dr. Sahbani also stressed the need to scale up cross-border operations towards the Darfur states of Sudan, where there has been very little aid access since the start of the conflict.

“Darfur, Al Jazirah, the Kordofans are completely cut off from humanitarian assistance due to the escalating violence”, he said, highlighting in particular the dire conditions in North Darfur’s capital El Fasher, where some 800,000 people are “completely besieged with no access to humanitarian aid, including urgent health assistance”.

The UN health agency representative warned of a potential “disaster” if aid teams cannot reach them. The situation is getting even more desperate as the rainy season has just started, making access “even worse” for cross-border operations from Chad, he said.

Dr. Sahbani underscored the need for more financial support, as almost seven months into the year the humanitarian response in Sudan remains only 26 per cent funded. He called more attention for this crisis, “one of the worst in the world”.

Humanitarian access and protection of civilians are among the main points under discussion at the UN-led talks between representatives from the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces taking place in Geneva since last week under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra.

UN Geneva spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci told journalists that both delegations were “engaged” and that Mr. Lamamra and his team have had several interactions with each of the two delegations throughout the weekend, as part of a process known as proximity talks.

“We got good signs,” said Dr. Sahbani when asked about his impressions on the talks, which are continuing this week. He said that seven WHO trucks are currently “moving from [the] Kordofans towards Darfur”, with the hope of reaching various locations including El Fasher. These trucks had been “stuck in Ad Debbah”, in Sudan’s Northern State, for almost a month and were only released on Monday.

“It can be promising,” he said of the ongoing discussions. “Let’s wait for the coming hours, days,” he insisted.

“If we don’t get [a] ceasefire, at least we could get the protection of civilians and the opening of humanitarian corridors.”

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