Monrovia — It's almost 12 months since Ramadan fighting broke out in Sudan on April 15, 2023, and MSF is calling on the world not to turn its back on the devastated country. The level of "international neglect" when it comes to providing help for the people of Sudan is "shocking", said MSF International President Christos Christou.
"Across Sudan, women are dying because of complications during pregnancy or childbirth, and patients with chronic diseases are dying because they are running out of medication. This can all be prevented if humanitarian actors scale up and have sufficient safe access. The vast needs, the known atrocities that are being committed – these are all reasons why we urge the UN and humanitarian organisations to redouble their efforts to provide assistance to people in Sudan," Christou said in his statement.
Fighting between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out after a disagreement between the leaders of both armed groups that made up the transitional government. Tens of thousands of people have been killed as the fighting spread from Khartoum to all parts of the country, resulting in the humanitarian crisis the UN describes as "one of the worst in recent memory".
During the virtual briefing by MSF team members, they raised their concerns about the apparent shift in media attention from the ongoing conflict where 25 million citizens, including 14 million children need humanitarian help - to crises in other parts of the world.
"But this humanitarian assistance remains largely inadequate. This is because on the one hand, there are really few humanitarian actors in the most affected areas of Sudan, but also because most of the humanitarian actors are facing major access barriers," MSF Communications Advisor Giorgia Girometti said.
Though the challenges are enormous, Christou believes they are "not insurmountable", despite the internal displacement of more than 8 million Sudanese, and almost 2 million refugees in neighbouring countries like Chad and South Sudan.
Christou said the systemic blockage of the delivery of humanitarian assistance imposed by the Sudanese Armed Forces for the past six months is a major issue. "The lack of access has made it difficult to send medical supplies and personnel across the country, particularly into areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces.
"Many of our facilities are perilously low on supplies – in the Turkish Hospital in Khartoum , for example, we have just 20 percent of our stock remaining. We have already run out of artesunate, which is vital for treating malaria. The blockade amounts to a deliberate obstruction of the provision of humanitarian assistance and it is having a devastating impact on the lives of millions of people across the country. Only 20 to 30 percent of health facilities remain functional in Sudan as it is. Without supplies reaching these facilities, people's ability to get treatment when they need it is becoming even more limited," Christou said.
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Since the intense fighting in the past few months, which included the shelling and attacks on camps and villages where civilians have sought refuge, the MSF chief reiterated an urgent call made in February 2024 for the immediate, coordinated, and rapid scale-up of the humanitarian response in North Darfur - led by the UN - to save lives.
"We called for food distributions to resume as a matter of urgency. We called for cash distributions so that people could buy food in the markets. We called for health providers to return and provide treatment. And we called for the provision of clean water so that people no longer had to go to the swamps and rivers to quench their thirst. But no one came and – two months later – we remain almost completely alone there."
He called on the UN and other stakeholders to use their "influence and leadership" to ensure the parties to the conflict "fulfill these obligations".
Edited by Juanita Williams
