In Sudan the war is causing the worst famine in 40 years

Around 2.5 million people are at risk of dying due to the famine caused by the war in Sudan.Ethnic cleansing continues in Darfur.

There war in Sudan is causing the worst famine in 40 years.According to one published research from the Dutch international relations think tank Clingendael at the end of May, the contents of which were confirmed by the United States and the United Nations, it is estimated that by September 2.5 million people could die of hunger, particularly in Darfur and Kordofan.

FromApril 2023, the conflict opposes the army (Saf) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, to paramilitary rapid support forces (Rsf) of his former deputy, General Mohamed Hamdane Daglo said Hemedti.According to theAcled, the war caused at least 16,650 victims, but the estimates are downwards, and the injury at least 30 thousand civilians. The humanitarian crisis is catastrophic:the number of displaced persons exceeds the figure of 10 million, of which around two million asylum seekers abroad, around 25 million of people they need humanitarian aid, 3.5 million of children under the age of five they live in a state of acute malnutrition.

An unprecedented famine

Sudan is facing what could become a famine worse than any other that the world has ever seen since the one that occurred in Ethiopia in the 1980s, which led to the deaths of approx a million people between 1983 and 1985.Humanitarian aid continues to be blocked by the two conflicting factions, who therefore clearly use the hunger as a weapon of war.

With much of theworld attention focused on Gaza, theater of aanother man-made famine, Sudan is therefore silently sliding towards a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions, with global media coverage and concern almost nothing.At the moment, the country has received only 16 percent of the humanitarian aid that would be needed.

Ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in Darfur

In recent weeks theepicenter of the conflict and of the humanitarian crisis is the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, one of the last SAR enclaves in Darfur now under RSF control.Doctors Without Borders he announced a few days ago there closure of the last operational hospital of the city, due to the continuous incursions of the RSF which, in addition to causing deaths and injuries, ransacked the structure, also taking away ambulances.

Despite the continuous requests from the United Nations to break the siege of the city, the fighting continues.In fact, on Thursday 13 June, the Security Council approved a resolution with 14 votes in favor and Russia abstention calling for an end to the siege of El Fasher, but the clashes escalated after the SARs inflicted heavy losses on the RSF.

Various humanitarian and international organizations they accuse paramilitary groups to be committing in Darfur war crimes, including episodes of ethnic cleansing.The chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court Karim Khan, immediately after requesting arrest warrants for the war in Gaza, has launched an appeal for witnesses submit evidence to support the investigation urgently opened by his office on accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region of Sudan.

The role of foreign powers in the conflict

In short, humanitarian aid is not arriving, while war crimes continue weapons supplies by the various powers that support the two conflicting factions they never stopped.The Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations Al-Harith Idriss al-Harith Mohamed he accused the United Arab Emirates to be responsible for the continuation of the war:a version however rejected by the representative of Abu Dhabi.

It is not the first time that these accusations have come from Khartoum.I am in fact, different international actors support the two factions in conflict:on the one hand Rsf are supported by Emirates, whose diplomats they were expelled in December from the country, while Egypt, Türkiye, Iran and partly also the Russia they claim Saf.

On the topic, theUS ambassador at the United Nations Linda Thomas.-Greenfield much was spent, particularly at last week's meeting of the Security Council.The diplomat stated that Washington has "engaged" with Abu Dhabi, a US ally, on the issue.However, the White House report of the meeting between Biden and the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the recently concluded G7 summit in Puglia he did not mention Sudan.

This constitutes one of the many reasons why the United States is accused of hypocrisy by many countries, particularly in the Global South:Washington on the one hand it calls for an end to arms supplies to the parties involved in the conflict in Sudan;on the other continues to deliver billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel during his offensive on Gaza.