Iran Press/ Africa: Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program said that some 18 million people across Sudan face acute hunger, with the most desperate trapped behind the front lines.
“The war in Sudan risks triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis,” McCain said as she wrapped up a trip to neighboring South Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of Sudanese had fled the fighting in their home country.
Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April when clashes erupted in the capital, Khartoum, between the country’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and a paramilitary known as Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo.
The fighting quickly spread across the nation, especially in urban areas but also in the restive western Darfur region.
Thousands of people have been killed, including between 10,000 and 15,000 people, when paramilitary forces and allied Arab militias rampaged through a Darfur town last year.
Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African.
It seems that legacy has returned, with the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan saying in late January there are grounds to believe both sides are committing possible war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide in Darfur.
“Twenty years ago, Darfur was the world’s largest hunger crisis and the world rallied to respond. But today, the people of Sudan have been forgotten,” McCain said.
The conflict has uprooted more than 10 million people either to safer areas inside Sudan or to neighboring countries, according to the UN agencies.
McCain called for the warring parties to stop fighting and allow humanitarian agencies to provide their life-saving assistance.
“The consequences of inaction go far beyond a mother unable to feed her child and will shape the region for years to come,” she said.
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