Tuesday, August 27, 2024, marked 500 days of relentless conflict in Sudan that has killed thousands and left millions in dire need of humanitarian assistance, with women and girls bearing the worst of the war.
More than 18,000 people have been killed, 33,000 injured, and 10 million displaced — including 7 million internally, making Sudan the world’s largest displacement crisis. The conflict has also propagated the world’s largest hunger crisis, with millions facing famine conditions. As fighting shows no signs of abating, the future of Sudan remains bleak and uncertain.
“The situation is catastrophic, and the world must stop the escalating devastation and suffering,” warned CARE Sudan Country Director Abdirahman Ali.
He continued, “The war has shattered the healthcare system, leaving countless without care. Aid workers struggle to reach those in desperate need of help, and food prices soar as farms remain bare due to a missed planting season. Women and girls are disproportionally impacted, facing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) that has them living in constant fear,”
With over 75% of health centres destroyed, countless Sudanese have been left without access to essential medical services, exacerbating the suffering of an already vulnerable population. Pregnant women risk losing their babies at birth due to complications, and innocent civilians are injured due to the heavy fighting and forced to travel long distances to access treatment.
Grim picture
“War shattered our peaceful life in Khartoum, and since April 2023, we have endured immense suffering,” recounted Hawa, a 60-year-old mother, as she described the challenges she faced while seeking help for her injured husband and daughter. “When the war began, my husband was shot on his way to the market. Desperate for medical care, we fled with my pregnant daughter. The journey was a nightmare —long and gruelling — with countless checkpoints and no reliable transportation. We saw many dead bodies along the way, and often, we didn’t have enough food. My husband finally received treatment, and my daughter gave birth when we found safety in Kassala. Still, despite starting a small business, I struggle to provide enough food for my family,” she painfully narrated.
Compounding the suffering across Sudan is the ongoing flooding that has destroyed homes and displaced persons camps. The rains have also made roads impassable, complicating aid delivery, and left many exposed to cholera which continues to spread and has so far killed 22 people.
An estimated 25.6 million people, nearly half of Sudan’s population, face severe hunger, with millions on the brink of starvation. During the planting season, farmers lacked access to markets to get inputs, those who could access markets found the inputs expensive thus leading to low farming yields. Some regions have already been declared to be experiencing famine, while in others, the situation remains unknown due to inaccessibility. In IDP camps in East Darfur, people have no option but to eat leaves.
“Conflict, hunger, disease, and floods have left millions trapped in devastation and are killing Sudanese by the day. The world is 500 days late to silence the guns, allow peace to prevail, and scale up the response to growing humanitarian needs in Sudan,” said Abdirahman Ali.
Ending this devastating crisis is urgent and requires collective action to stop the conflict and address human suffering. Warring parties must reach and abide by a country-wide ceasefire and uphold international humanitarian law (IHL), including by ceasing the targeting of civilians, refraining from using sexual violence as a weapon of war, protecting humanitarian workers and assets, and removing all obstacles to the sustained, timely, effective and principled delivery of humanitarian assistance to all that urgently need it.
Donors must urgently fund a gender-sensitive multi-sectoral response that addresses growing protection and GBV needs and demands an end to violations and an enabling environment for the humanitarian response. The international community must act now to prevent further suffering.
