Sudan facing ‘the abyss’ unless war ends as mass starvation looms, UN warns

More than 600, 000 people in Sudan are “on the brink of starvation” as famine stalks the war-torn country, the United Nations has warned.

In North Darfur, where the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) and the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (known by its French acronyms, MSF) were forced to suspend operations earlier this week, according to UN human rights chief Volker Turk, who announced on Thursday that famine had spread to five locations across the nation.

In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council, Turk claimed Sudan was “looking into the abyss” and that famine could strike five more areas in three months, with 17 more people being put in danger in what he referred to as the “world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe.”

“Sudan&nbsp, is a powder keg, on the verge of a further explosion into chaos, and at increasing risk of atrocity crimes and mass deaths from famine”, he said, urging immediate action to “end the war, deliver emergency aid, and get agriculture back on its feet”.

As fighting between the military and the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalated, MSF suspended operations in and around Zamzam on Monday, with half a million people seeking refuge there. WFP followed suit on Wednesday.

WFP had been feeding approximately 300, 000 of Zamzam’s residents, but had only reached about 60, 000 people this month amid intensified shelling, with one attack destroying the camp’s central open market.

The UN’s director of humanitarian operations, Edem Wosornu, disclosed to the UN Security Council on Wednesday that satellite images showed recent instances of heavy weapons being used in and around Zamzam.

Zamzam camp is located 12 kilometres (6.5 miles) south of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which the RSF has been trying to take for months.

Endless cycle of violence

More than 12 million people have been forced from their homes to camps and other locations within Sudan’s borders as a result of the conflict, which started in April 2023, killing tens of thousands and causing what Turk described as the “biggest displacement crisis in the world.”

According to Turk, the RSF’s recent initiatives to establish governing bodies in areas it controls “further entrench divisions and the risk of continued hostilities.”

He estimated that some 30.4 million people need assistance, including food and healthcare. With fewer than 30% of hospitals and clinics open and disease spreading in the country’s displacement camps, the country’s healthcare system is under severe stress.

According to Save the Children, citing Ministry of Health data on Thursday, Cholera is currently rampant in White Nile, killing at least 70 people and infecting more than 2,200.

The city of Kosti was impacted by a rumored drone strike on the area’s Um Dabakar power station, which caused access to clean water.

Since the outbreak first started in August of last year, the country has had more than 55, 000 cholera cases and more than 1,400 deaths, according to the Health Ministry.