2023-05-30 16:55:00
More than 13.6 million children “desperately” need help in Sudan, where the fighting continues despite the truce, a number without historical precedents that derives from the conflict that began in mid-April and that forces, according to the United Nations Fund for Children (Unicef), to redouble humanitarian aid.
Before the clashes that broke out on April 15 between the Sudanese Army of General Abdel Fatah al Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, experts estimated that there were almost nine million minors in need of help, “a situation that was already terrible”.
But in the middle of last month, when the conflict began, the situation worsened with basic services cut off and a large number of sanitary facilities damaged or directly unusable.
The situation worsened with basic services cut off and a large number of sanitary facilities damaged or directly unusable.
“As the conflict progresses in Sudan, the number of victims among children continues to be more devastating every day,” lamented the director of UNICEF for the Middle East and North Africa, Adele Khodr, who recalled in a statement that “they are not just numbers”, but “the future” of the African country. UNICEF, which aspires to care for the population affected by the conflict both inside and outside Sudan, estimates that more than half of those displaced and refugees by the conflict are children.
Khodr stressed that “the children of Sudan deserve a chance to survive and prosper”, which he believes to be “sparing no effort”, in a message to both the parties and the international community, the news agency reported. Europe Press.
“As the conflict rages on in Sudan, the toll among children remains more devastating by the day”Adele Khodr
Funding request increased by $253 million to meet additional needs resulting from the escalation of violence.
The fighting continues
Meanwhile, fighting continued on Tuesday in Sudan, where the truce, which was never respected, was extended for another five days to try to deliver vital humanitarian aid for this country that is on the brink of famine.
The two sides agreed to extend the truce in force since May 22 and under the supervision of Saudi Arabia and the United States by five days.
But on the ground, air strikes, artillery fire and armored movements do not stop.
This Tuesday there was already fighting in Khartoum, the capital, and Nyala, a city in Darfur, a vast western region that was already devastated in the 2000s by war, the AFP news agency reported.
a difficult story
Sudan, with 45 million inhabitants and located in East Africa, It is one of the poorest countries in the world and has already recorded two civil wars in its traumatic historya situation likely to repeat itself in the current war context.
Before the conflict, Sudan had more than a million refugees on its territoryMost of them come from bordering South Sudan, which declared its independence from the north in 2011 after a civil war.
The UN emphasized the vulnerability of displaced persons and refugees and called for measures to be able to distribute humanitarian aid.
The World Food Program (WFP) estimates that between 2 and 2.5 million people could start going hungry in the coming monthswhich would imply that more than 19 million, two fifths of the population, will suffer from food insecurity in the short and medium term.
After almost seven weeks of war, 25 of the 45 million Sudanese can no longer survive without humanitarian aid, the UN said.
The conflict, which has left at least 1,800 dead so far, according to the NGO Acled, and almost a million and a half displaced persons and refugees, according to the UN, continues to kill and force families to leave their homes.
The conflict, which has left at least 1,800 dead so far, according to the NGO Acled, and almost a million and a half displaced persons and refugees, according to the UN, continues to kill and force families to leave their homes.
Abdel Fatah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo carried out a coup in 2021 against a transitional civilian government that had ruled the country since the overthrow of autocratic former president Omar al-Bashir in 2019, following a wave of protests.
However, over time they grew apart, especially over whether or not to integrate the FAR into the Armed Forces. Both have external sponsors in the Arab world: Egypt supports Al Burhan and the United Arab Emirates supports Daglo.
Although the United States and Saudi Arabia welcomed the extension of the truce, the Sudanese fear “an all-out civil war,” according to the Freedom and Change Forces (FLC), a coalition of parties and civil associations opposed to the military government that arrived. to power with a coup in 2021 by the two generals, then allies and now rivals.
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