World must take action in Sudan

Famine conditions have been discovered in two more areas of Sudan, as the civil war there continues to cause extreme food shortages. These alarming findings were released Feb. 5 by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which previously reported in November that two towns in Sudan had famine level malnutrition occurring and twenty more areas were at risk.

“Families are eating once a day or nothing at all. Many survive on boiled leaves or animal feed. This is not a food crisis: it is a survival crisis” said Samy Guessabi, director of Action Against Hunger in Sudan.

Children are starving to death in Sudan and cannot wait any longer for food and peace. The world needs to act now to get a ceasefire in the conflict, gain access to those who are suffering hunger and fund relief efforts.

In the South Kordofan region of Sudan people are being bombed and starved to death as we speak. For those who flee the violence and reach displacement camps, they find that hunger and poverty have followed them.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says "Upon reaching the relative safety of displacement camps, families sleep on the bare ground or in overcrowded shelters. Aid groups like NRC are few, overstretched, and underfunded. Essential items are critically scarce. Children are traumatized, malnourished, and out of school."

The world could surely do better in funding humanitarian aid for Sudan's war victims. But the war has been off the radar of most people despite it being the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet. The civil war started in 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Overall there are more than 21 million people in Sudan facing devastating hunger.

The fighting has blocked aid from reaching South Kordofan and other conflict areas. This is why a ceasefire is so urgent to ensure the U.N. World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF, UNHCR and other relief agencies can get through.

Donations to Sudan relief are urgent too. Sudan's war emergency requires billions of funding a year to provide food, water, shelter, medical supplies and other lifesaving aid to civilians. Ration cuts are a constant risk because donations have not kept up with the rising hunger.

Ross Smith, WFP Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, explains “WFP has been forced to reduce rations to the absolute minimum for survival. By the end of March, we will have depleted our food stocks in Sudan.“

World leaders must step up efforts for a ceasefire in Sudan and to convince the warring forces of the futility of continued fighting. An endless war offers no future for anyone in Sudan, only continued famine and suffering.

The United States must reverse the dangerous trend of humanitarian aid cuts and increase funding to help Sudan and other suffering nations. The U.S. Food for Peace program needs a significant funding boost.

We cannot allow starvation and desperation to continue in Sudan’s civil war. If everyone helps a little, we can stop famine and build a pathway to peace.

William Lambers is the author of The Road to Peace and partnered with the U.N. World Food Program on the book “Ending World Hunger.”