Sudan crisis is a ‘nightmare,’ more aid urgently needed

At the third international conference on Sudan in Berlin, United Nations representatives called on the international community to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to Sudan, a country ravaged by civil war.

“This nightmare must end,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video message to participants at the conference, an event organized by the German government, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, the European Union and the African Union.

“The international community has really failed the Sudanese people,” said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program (WFP), speaking about his impressions during a visit to the Darfur region in recent days.

“It failed to prevent the outbreak of this terrible war, and it failed to protect civilians, including women and children,” he added.

He stressed that humanitarian organizations are capable of relieving suffering, but aid workers must be able to operate safely and unhindered.

In addition, more money is needed to finance aid. “Currently, WFP cannot even provide full rations to people in famine-affected areas,” Skau said.

UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said Sudan was a “laboratory of atrocities”.

In Sudan, some 34 million people depend on aid, 19 million suffer from hunger and ten million children do not have access to school, he said.

A U.N. aid plan aimed to reach 14 million people, but that would require $2.2 billion.

Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, with fighting between the Sudanese army and rapid support paramilitary forces.

The UN has described the conflict as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Around 12 million people have been displaced and half the population faces hunger.