UN and African Union Officials: Sudan Faces Epic Crisis and Bleak Future

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Three international officials briefed the Security Council that the situation in Sudan is dire and will worsen with continued fighting and the parties to the conflict failing to fulfill their obligations under international humanitarian law.

During a briefing to the Security Council on Sudan the day before yesterday, Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, stated, "Since the conflict erupted, the Sudanese people have endured unbearable suffering, with the conflict parties failing to protect civilians."

She described the situation in Sudan as a "crisis of epic proportions, entirely man-made," and urged for continued attention to achieve an immediate end to the war ravaging Sudan and its people.

While acknowledging the Juba Platform as a promising means for dialogue between warring parties to reach a ceasefire agreement, she called for building on the momentum generated by the Paris Conference to enhance efforts to end the fighting and steer Sudan towards comprehensive democratic reform and recovery.

Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), reiterated before the Security Council that 18 million people are facing severe hunger, with expectations of this number increasing rapidly as the lean season approaches, noting that they launched a famine prevention plan a week ago.

She stated, "If we are to avert famine, parties must take urgent steps to facilitate humanitarian relief to all civilians in need," stressing that humanitarian workers must be able to reach affected communities wherever they are and through all possible routes.

She warned that "the Sudanese people cannot wait another month, week, or even day for their suffering to end."

Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Chair of the African Union High-Level Committee on Sudan, stated that the war has set back the country several decades, "and it will take more than a generation to rebuild Sudan to what it was before the war."

He added that Sudans prospects for achieving Sustainable Development Goals or the African Union Agenda 2063 "appear extremely bleak, condemning millions of Sudanese to poverty and suffering for decades to come."

He reminded that the mandate of his committee is to engage active Sudanese stakeholders, including the warring parties as well as other civilian stakeholders and armed groups, to implement the African Union roadmap for resolving the conflict in Sudan.