UN says 5 million at risk of starvation in Sudan

Some five million Sudanese could face calamitous food insecurity in coming months as a nearly year long war between rival generals continues to tear the country apart, according to a UN document seen Friday by AFP.
The war between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has since April last year killed tens of thousands, destroyed infrastructure and crippled the economy, reports BSS.
It has also triggered a dire humanitarian crisis and acute food shortages, with the country teetering on the brink of famine.
Noting that some 18 million Sudanese are already facing acute food insecurity-- a record during harvest season -- UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths warned in a letter to the Security Council that "almost 5 million peoplecould slip into catastrophic food insecurity in some parts of the country inthe coming months."
He noted that nearly 730,000 Sudanese children -- including more than 240,000in Darfur -- are thought to suffer from "severe" malnutrition.
"Aid organizations require safe, rapid, sustained and unimpeded access --including across conflict lines within Sudan," said UN Secretary GeneralAntonio Guterres's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
"A massive mobilization of resources from the international community is alsocritical," he added.
The UN's World Food Programme has warned that the war risks "triggering theworld's largest hunger crisis."
Jill Lawler, the emergency chief in Sudan for the UN children's agencyUNICEF, said there were enough aid stocks in Port Sudan, but the problem wasgetting the aid from there to the people in need.
Lawler said she last week had led the first UN mission to reach Khartoumstate since war erupted 11 months ago.
They had seen first-hand that "the scale and magnitude of needs for childrenacross the country are simply staggering," she told reporters in Geneva viavideo link from New York.
The war "is pushing the country towards a famine" with hunger "the number oneconcern people expressed."
- 'Moment of truth' -
Mandeep O'Brien, UNICEF representative in Sudan, said 14 million childrenneeded humanitarian aid and four million were displaced.
There was only a "small window left to prevent mass loss of children's livesand future," she warned on X, formerly Twitter.
World Health Organization regional director Hanan Balkhy, who recentlyreturned from a trip to Sudan, underlined the acute needs in Darfur, sayingmost health facilities were looted, damaged or destroyed.
Griffiths, the UN aid chief, lamented that fighting continued to rage duringthe Muslim holy month of Ramadan despite a Security Council resolutioncalling for a cessation of hostilities.
"This is a moment of truth," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "The partiesmust silence the guns, protect civilians and ensure humanitarian access."
The UN on Friday called for more financial support for aid operations inSudan.
UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told reporters in Geneva that the worldbody had appealed for $2.7 billion to provide aid this year, but had receivedjust five percent of that amount so far.