UN calls for action as famine and disease stalk Sudan

United Nations agencies have warned that famine and disease threaten to cause “countless” deaths in war-torn Sudan unless emergency action is taken.

Malnourishment, crumbling healthcare facilities and a surge of cholera cases are blighting the population, officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday as they underlined the “immense challenges” faced by aid workers after 18 months of war in the  country.

“Malnourished children and mothers are dying due to lack of access to care, and cholera is spreading in many parts of the country,” said WHO’s regional director Hanan Balkhy at a media briefing in Cairo, the capital of neighbouring Egypt.

“Without immediate intervention, famine and disease will claim countless more lives.”

Floundering

The ongoing war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has raged since April last year, killing 20,000 people and displacing more than 10 million – including 2.4 million who have fled to other countries – according to UN estimates.

The United States announced on Tuesday that it had added Algoney Hamdan Dagalo Musa, the younger brother of RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti, to its sanctions list.

The US Department of Treasury accused Musa of leading RSF’s procurement of weapons and extending the country’s civil war.

However, Washington has so far rejected calls to sanction Hemedti directly over allegations that the RSF has committed human rights violations, including in the Darfur region.The conflict has left more than 25 million people – over half the population of Sudan – in desperate need of food and healthcare.