Sudan group says 1 killed during fresh anti-coup protests

Security forces killed a protester Monday as thousands of Sudanese once again took to the streets of Khartoum to denounce an October military coup that plunged the country into turmoil, a medical group said.

The protester was shot in the head as security forces fired live animation and tear gas at protesters marching in Omdurman, the twin city of the capital Khartoum, said the Sudan Doctors Committee.

Security forces also broke up protesters marching toward the presidential palace in Khartoum, injuring dozens, the committee said.

Sudanese protesters rally against the October 2021 military coup which has led to scores of deaths, thousands of injuries and numerous arrests of demonstrators, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. Placard has a photo of a demonstrator who was killed and Arabic at left that reads, "A generation from light lives to enlighten." (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

There was no immediate comment from authorities.

Monday’s marches were the latest in near-daily street protests since the military took over on Oct. 25, removing the civilian-led transitional government.

Since then, at least 83 people have been killed and over 2,600 injured in a bloody crackdown on protests, according to the doctors group.

Sudanese protesters rally against the October 2021 military coup which has led to deaths and scores of arrests of demonstrators, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. Since the coup, more than 80 people, mostly young men, have been killed and over 2,600 others injured in the protests, according to a Sudanese medical group. (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

The takeover has upended Sudan’s short-lived transition to democratic rule after three decades of repression and international isolation under autocratic President Omar al-Bashir.

The African nation has been on a fragile path to democracy since a popular uprising forced the military to remove al-Bashir and his Islamist government in April 2019.

Pro-democracy protesters call for the establishment of a fully civilian government to complete the now-stalled democratic transition.

Sudanese protesters rally against the October 2021 military coup which has led to deaths and scores of arrests of demonstrators, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. Since the coup, more than 80 people, mostly young men, have been killed and over 2,600 others injured in the protests, according to a Sudanese medical group. (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

The generals however insist that they will hand over power only to an elected government. They say elections will take place next year.

Sudanese protesters rally against the October 2021 military coup which has led to deaths and scores of arrests of demonstrators, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. Since the coup, more than 80 people, mostly young men, have been killed and over 2,600 others injured in the protests, according to a Sudanese medical group. (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

Sudanese protesters rally against the October 2021 military coup which has led to deaths and scores of arrests of demonstrators, in Khartoum, Sudan, Monday, Feb. 28, 2022. Since the coup, more than 80 people, mostly young men, have been killed and over 2,600 others injured in the protests, according to a Sudanese medical group. (AP PhotoMarwan Ali)

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza as the territory with the largest number of people facing famine, according to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday.

The U.N. report said 24 million more people faced an acute lack of food than in 2022, due to the sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and Sudan. The number of nations with food crises that are monitored has also been expanded.

Máximo Torero, chief economist for the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, said 705,000 people in five countries are at Phase 5, the highest level, on a scale of hunger determined by international experts — the highest number since the global report began in 2016 and quadruple the number that year.

Over 80% of those facing imminent famine — 577,000 people — were in Gaza, he said. South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Mali each host many thousands also facing catastrophic hunger.

According to the report’s future outlook, around 1.1 million people in Gaza, where the Israel-Hamas war is now in its seventh month, and 79,000 in South Sudan are projected to be in Phase 5 and facing famine by July.

It said conflict will also continue to drive food insecurity in Haiti, where gangs control large portions of the capital.

Additionally, while the El Nino phenomenon peaked in early 2024, “its full impact on food security – including flooding and poor rain in parts of east Africa and drought in southern Africa, especially Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are like to manifest throughout the year.”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the report “a roll call of human failings,” and that “in a world of plenty, children are starving to death.”

“The conflicts erupting over the past 12 months compound a dire global situation,” he wrote in the report's foreword.

Guterres highlighted the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as the enclave holds the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger. There is also the year-old conflict in Sudan, which has created the world's largest internal displacement crisis “with atrocious impacts on hunger and nutrition,” he added.

According to the report, over 36 million people in 39 countries and territories are facing an acute hunger emergency, a step below the famine level in Phase 4, with more than a third in Sudan and Afghanistan. It's an increase of a million people from 2022, the report said.

Arif Husain, the U.N. World Food Program’s chief economist, said every year since 2016 the numbers of people acutely food insecure have gone up, and they are now more than double the numbers before the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the report looks at 59 countries, he said the target is to get data from 73 countries where there are people who are acutely food insecure.

Secretary-General Guterres called for an urgent response to the report’s findings that addresses the underlying causes of acute hunger and malnutrition while transforming the systems that supply food. Funding is also not keeping pace with the needs, he stressed.

“We must have the funding, and we also must have the access,” WFP’s Husain said, stressing that both “go hand-in-hand” and are essential to tackle acute food insecurity.

The report is the flagship publication of the Food Security Information Network and is based on a collaboration of 16 partners including U.N. agencies, regional and multinational bodies, the European Union, the U.S. Agency for International Development, technical organizations and others.

FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. According to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday, April 24, nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza the territory with the largest number of people facing famine. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)