The worsening humanitarian crisis in Sudan drives up the urgent need for a massive ramp-up of international funding as conflicts in the war-torn country enters the third year, said a UN spokesman on Friday.
At a regular press briefing in Geneva, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the crisis shows no signs of abating.
"As the fighting in Sudan enters a third year with no viable peace in sight, the Sudanese are trapped in a humanitarian crisis of industrial proportions. Two out of three people need aid, that's 30 million people," he said.
The continuous fighting has caused a colossal trail of suffering to Sudanese, said UN refugee Agency in a recent post, warning that as funding for the regional response is less than 10 percent of what is needed, basic needs for conducting operation in the country is left unsatisfied.
"This, of course, demands a massive ramp-up of international support. What we see instead is donors pulling back funding across the world," said Laerke. According to the World Food Program (WFP), the ongoing conflict in Sudan has plunged the country into the world's worst famine disaster, with nearly half of its population facing the threat of famine. Meanwhile, Sudan's medical system has also sustained severe damage, causing soaring maternal mortality rate.
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, cited by the UN, the conflict has claimed at least 29,683 lives.
UN spokesman calls for more funding amid worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan
UN spokesman calls for more funding amid worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan
