A boy prepares straw to be used as a cooking fire inside a hut at a camp for people displaced by conflict in Sudan's eastern Gedaref province on May 15, 2024. Picture: AFP
By Tony Ademiluyi
The bitter power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into a huge conflict in April 2023. A conservative estimate puts the death toll at about 15,500 while another estimate said that about 150,000 people lost their dear lives.
Majority of the fighting took place in the capital – Khartoum with the conflict having a major impact on other parts of the country. In Darfur, mass killings and displacement have led to some reports of ethnic cleansing.
Prior to the conflict, Sudan was already experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis. The conflict only exacerbated it leaving about twenty-five million people – more than half of its population in dire need.
The brutal conflict since 2023 has forced millions of Sudanese to flee their ancestral homes, pushing the total number of displaced people there to about 12 million in June 2024. Children represent about half of the displaced people. The majority of the population – about ten million remain within Sudan, which represents the biggest displacement crisis in the entire world.
The United States is the largest donor of humanitarian aid to Sudan providing more than $1 billion in US humanitarian assistance since the fiscal year of 2023, including more than $699 million from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
USAID is supporting food, health, protection, sanitation, water, and hygiene activities. Since April 2024, USAID partners have reached nearly 6.7 million people with emergency food and nutrition assistance, screened 3.7 million children for malnutrition, and provided safe drinking water to more than 8 million people across Sudan. USAID activated a Disaster Assistance Response Team and a Response Management Team to coordinate ongoing USAID response efforts in Sudan.
In 2023, Sudan became the second most dangerous place in the world for humanitarians with at least 22 aid workers killed according to the Aid Worker Security Database. Medical staff and infrastructure are also increasingly being targeted, with 60 attacks verified by the World Health Organization since 15 April 2023.
The food insecurity and nutrition situation in Sudan has deteriorated significantly. The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) projection, released in December 2023, estimated that 17.7 million people would face a high level of acute food insecurity between October 2023 and February 2024, in what is traditionally the best period of the year. Since then, several projections have indicated accrued deterioration, with millions projected to suffer famine-like conditions, while a significant portion of the population will face serious food shortages. Access and security threats, roadblocks, and a lack of connectivity prevented the update of the latest IPC analysis.
In 2024, the EU has mobilised an initial amount of €72 million for the humanitarian response in Sudan.
At the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and neighbouring countries co-hosted by the European Union, France and Germany on 15 April 2024, Commissioner Janez Lenarčič announced an additional €45 million for humanitarian assistance in Sudan.
In total, the European Commission committed €354 million in humanitarian and development funding for Sudan and its neighbours at this conference, which includes €117 million for Sudan and about €68 million for the neighbouring countries.
In 2023, the EU allocated over €128 million for the response to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. The Commission’s total contribution to the response to the impact of the Sudan crisis in the neighbouring countries in 2023 was around €37 million.
Within the framework of the European Humanitarian Response Capacity (EHRC), the EU has completed two Humanitarian Air Bridge operations to Chad and Sudan since the beginning of the crisis.
EU humanitarian aid provides communities with health and nutritional care, cash, food assistance, water and sanitation, shelter, protection, and education to the most vulnerable households – the internally displaced, refugee families, and host communities.
The EU also contributes to the nutritional treatment and care of children under five and pregnant or breastfeeding women across Sudan.
The EU continues to promote compliance with international humanitarian law for unhindered and safe access for humanitarian aid and the protection of civilians.
* Tony Ademiluyi is an independent writer and analyst.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.