Islamic Relief staff describe scenes of starvation after 500 days of war in Sudan

Islamic Relief’s Regional Humanitarian Manager, Mohamed Abduwahid Omar, has just visited sites for displaced people in Gedaref, southeast Sudan, which has received hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the violence. He says: I met many people with sunken eyes and emaciated bodies, going two days without eating anything at all. Others have just a small cup of lentils a day. People are starving and just trying to survive.

“The sites for displaced people are overcrowded and overwhelmed, and 80% of the people there are women and children. I visited a half-built bus station that has been turned into a reception centre for processing new arrivals. There were 1,450 people there who had arrived scared, exhausted and hungry, and more arrive every day. There’s not enough space so many people have to sleep outside in the cold and pouring rain. There are only five toilets to share between everyone, and now the rainy season has begun there is a growing risk of diseases. In one recent assessment over 40% of people surveyed had at least one family member with serious diarrhea due to the poor conditions.

"People were crying as they spoke to me. They’re scared and feel hopeless for the future and just want the world to help stop this nightmare. I met a blind man who has been displaced four times in the last year as the fighting has spread. He doesn’t know where he will go next if he has to flee again. All he cares about is surviving from one day to the next and finding something to eat.”

500 days of war has left 25.6 million people – over half the population – facing acute hunger. Around 13 million people have now fled their homes.

While conditions in parts of eastern Sudan like Gedaref are deteriorating, many other parts of Sudan are even worse. Islamic Relief staff in Darfur, where the organisation supports nutrition centres, are seeing children wasting away from severe malnutrition, with reports of families having to eat leaves from trees or even animal feed as they have nothing else. Famine conditions were officially declared earlier this month in Zamzam camp in North Darfur and medical facilities in South Darfur have reported 4-5 children dying a day from malnutrition.

Since the war broke out, Islamic Relief has reached over 950,000 people with vital aid including food, nutrition support, cash and medical supplies.

But aid agencies and local authorities are struggling to cope with the scale of the crisis. The humanitarian response is desperately short of funds, and parties to the conflict continue to obstruct access to some of the worst-affected areas through a combination of bureaucratic delays and the ongoing violence. Sudan has become one of the most dangerous places in the world to deliver aid, with at least 37 aid workers killed since the war erupted. Dozens more aid workers have been assaulted and over 120 humanitarian offices and warehouses have been looted by armed groups, including Islamic Relief offices.

In Gedaref, humanitarian agencies have relatively good access but the lack of funding is hampering the response. The local authorities have set up eight reception centres to triage displaced people to other purpose-built sites, but most of these are still being developed and are not yet ready to house people, so the reception centres are being overwhelmed and are at breaking point.

Despite the enormous suffering, the crisis in Sudan is largely neglected by the world. Islamic Relief is calling on international governments to urgently intensify diplomatic efforts for an immediate ceasefire, step up pressure on the warring parties to protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian access, and increase humanitarian funding.

Four months since the Paris Conference in April, very little of the $2.2 billion that international donors pledged to the humanitarian response in Sudan has materialised and promises have not been fulfilled. In particular, Islamic Relief is urging donors to prioritise funding for actions to prevent famine, such as providing cash so that people can purchase food from local markets and supporting small-scale farmers with seeds and tools for agriculture. International governments should also increase support to Sudanese local community-based responders. Local Emergency Response Rooms and community kitchens have been at the forefront of the humanitarian response since the start of the war, but many have had to shut down due to lack of funds and attacks.

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