The Sudanese Economic Alliance (SEA) launched an international appeal in July, calling on the United Nations to declare Sudan a country in immediate danger of famine, step up its efforts to prevent the crisis from spreading further and for the Sudanese Diaspora to intensify its efforts to raise funds to save those trapped in unsafe areas from death and disease.
The war between General Abdel Fattah al Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Mohamed “Hemeti” Dagalo’s militia, known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), began on April 15 last year. Since then, the conflict continues to intensify and expand across the country, with no end in sight.
Given the unimaginable scale of the crisis, there is an urgent need for the international community to act. According to the SEA, 26.6 million Sudanese, more than half of the population, live in a state of severe food insecurity. Around 24 million children have been affected by the conflict, and 730,000 children suffer from acute malnutrition. Mortality rates from hunger or malnutrition among children and adults are increasing, exceeding approved standards for classifying famine.
Worsening crisis
Green Left spoke to Hatim Kheirallah, on September 1, about the situation in Sudan since the appeal was launched. Keirallah is a consultant physician and humanitarian activist with connections to grassroots organisations working on the ground inside the country.
He said that since the appeal was sent to the UN general commissioner, the SEA have been navigating different ways and approaches to recruit international attention and support. However, no “tangible outcome has yet been achieved” to date.
“We have experience in the stalling and careless mood of the international community in such circumstances but will keep persevering in all directions.”
According to SEA, in the Internally Displaced People (IDP) camp Zamzam in North Darfur, one child dies every two hours due to malnutrition, and in the Kalma camp, 28 children died of malnutrition within two weeks in May, averaging two children per day.
Compounding the humanitarian situation, Sudan has recently experienced severe flooding, leading to the collapse of Arba’at Dam in Port Sudan and the rupture of a freshwater pipeline supplying the region.
“All these tragic conditions are aggravated by the war and coincide with the starvation policy followed by the warring parties,” said SEA.
“This is evidenced by the failure of the 2023-2024 winter agricultural season due to state invasion of Al Gazira by militias, the siege of farmers in White Nile, North Kordofan, and Sennar, the displacement of citizens from Darfur to Chad, Central Africa, and South Sudan, and the failure of the 2024 summer agricultural season, which is taking place without prior planning by the de facto government.”
Keirallah said there is also “the problem of refugees and displacement which counts in the millions”.
“The problem of housing and overcrowding in the safe states is getting worse as time goes on” and there is “massive unemployment, lack of subsistence, destruction of infrastructure, a halt on education, civil services and most medical care”.
“The recent and the ongoing floods and rain has added insult to injury by blocking roads, destroying houses and spreading diseases. Cholera cases are increasing as well as inflammatory conjunctivitis in the face of already devastated medical care system.
“We expect cholera, malaria and a legion of other bacterial and viral infection to reach appalling figures soon.”
Supply chains cut
The crisis is compounded by the skyrocketing cost of essential items, such as fuel and food, due to hyperinflation and a shortage of hard currency.
According to SEA: “The exchange rate increased from 650 [Sudanese] pounds in mid-April 2023, the date of the outbreak of the war, to 2,450 pounds in mid-July 2024, an increase of 277%. The price of a piece of bread reached 125 pounds in relatively safe states and 300 pounds in besieged states under the control of the Rapid Support Militia. The price of a bag of flour reached 50,000 pounds in the State of White Nile, Blue Nile, and Al Gazira, and the price of a gallon of gasoline is 10,000 pounds, equivalent to 4 dollars, the highest price in the world today.
“Supply chains to conflict regions are completely cut, putting the population at risk of siege, famine, and displacement for more than fifteen months. Moreover, war and crisis mongers on both sides of the conflict and their loyalists, working under their protection and cover, have doubled the prices of basic foodstuffs with unprecedented greed to accumulate their profits, to the detriment of hungry children, the elderly, and the sick.
“The warring parties' demand for hard currency for fuel and arms purchases is the main reason for the decline in the value of the Sudanese pound and the weakening of its purchasing power. This scarcity and absence of Sudanese currency among innocent citizens doubled their inability to purchase quantities of food that would only guarantee them sustenance, even in safe regions and states.”
On top of this, “pillaging, plundering, and systematic starvation, represented by the theft of strategic stocks from United Nations organizations, confiscation of citizens' crops, particularly in Al Gazira, and obstruction and looting of relief convoys to reach the needy … has contributed to worsening the situation.”
The SEA is calling on the UN and related organisations to declare Sudan in immediate danger of famine and to step up its efforts on the ground to prevent the famine from spreading and rescue those affected by it, in coordination with local, grassroots committees, trade union bodies and civil society humanitarian volunteer organisations.
“Thirty million citizens out of 47.8 million are at risk of death due to their difficulty in obtaining the minimum quantities of food needed. We call on all revolutionary forces and civil society organizations at home and abroad to pressure the de facto government and United Nations organizations to declare famine in Sudan.”
The SEA is also calling on all Sudanese inside and outside the country to “provide self-humanitarian support in cash, in-kind, convoys, and all forms of assistance inherited and rooted in the heritage of the Sudanese people” and to coordinate their efforts with local grassroots groups.
Grassroots organising is key
Regarding the work of grassroots organisations on the ground, Keirallah said foreign aid has not had much impact so far, because it is too little or is stolen.
“People are left to their own devices. They help in accommodating and feeding the displaced. Sudanese in the diaspora have an impactful effect on alleviating the crisis a bit through their transfer of money to their families in Sudan and [through] donations as well as sending humble assistance in cash and kind to hospitals and local organisations.
“Emergency rooms run by the resistance committees try to cater for basic needs. The Doctors’ syndicate is working hard to organise the limited resources and make ends meet.”
“The cooperative behaviour of people amidst this crisis, the solidarity of Sudanese in the diaspora and the grassroots bodies incessantly working day and night has [created] a social government, which is in fact replacing the dysfunctional de facto government.”
Regarding how the international community can best support the people of Sudan and if he has a message to the Australian government, Keirallah said that “help is needed in two directions simultaneously”.
“First and foremost, efforts have to escalate to address the humanitarian crisis by opening safe corridors to facilitate the entry of aid.
“More time without help is a major damaging factor .This demands resourceful moves by the international community to overcome the real and alleged difficulties to deliver aid in the necessary quantities and in a timely fashion.
“Second, is the intensification of the efforts to stop the war through all means [including] pressure on proxies to stop fuelling war in Sudan.”