Ten months into a war among rival generals, Sudan faces "epic suffering" and its civilians and refugees need billions in aid from the international community, the United Nations and dozens of other organizations said.
The US$4.1 billion appeal for donations will help 25 million people – roughly half of Sudan's entire population – who urgently need humanitarian assistance and protection, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Wednesday.
"Ten months of conflict have robbed the people of Sudan of nearly everything: their safety, their homes and their livelihoods," said OCHA chief Martin Griffiths, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian Affairs and emergency relief coordinator. “Last year’s appeal was less than half funded. This year, we must do better and with a heightened sense of urgency.”
The appeal includes US$2.7 billion for OCHA and other agencies to reach 14.7 million people who are struggling inside Sudan plus US$1.4 billion for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other agencies to help 2.7 million people, including 1.5 millon who fled for their safety to neighboring Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
The east African country has been plunged into chaos, with battles raging in Khartoum and other urban areas, since fighting broke out last year between between Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, the military chief, and Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, the commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The World Food Program says a record number of people, or about one-third of the population, already faced hunger before the latest conflict erupted. Now, it says, some 18 million people across Sudan suffer from acute hunger.
One of the largest protection crises in the world
The spread of fighting in Sudan damaged water supplies and other infrastructure, including almost three-fourths of all health facilities. It also hit hard in Aj Jazirah, a region known as Sudan's agricultural breadbasket, causing widespread hunger.
The destruction unleashed a wave of diseases such as cholera, measles and malaria, and forced 19 million children out of school, while human rights violations including gender-based violence are rampant, U.N. officials said.
The emergency response plan is intended to fund the work of 163 organizations inside Sudan and 83 others in refugee-hosting nations. The war has killed at least 12,000 people, according to U.N. officials.
"Sudan currently faces the largest internal displacement crisis in the world, the most significant child displacement crisis – with 3 million children displaced inside and outside the country – and is one of the largest protection crises in the world today," the plan says.
After meeting with uprooted families both in Ethiopia and inside Sudan, UNHCR's chief Filippo Grandi said people are doing the best they can with only basic aid.
“Time after time, we hear the same message from them: We want peace so we can go home, and we need support to rebuild our lives," he said. "They desperately need help, and they need it now.”
