Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Sudan by Ramesh Rajasingham, Director, Coordination Division, OCHA, on behalf of Joyce Msuya, Acting Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
New York, 12 November 2024
As prepared for delivery
Thank you, Mr. President.
Eighteen months into this conflict, the people of Sudan continue to endure unimaginable suffering amid unrelenting brutal violence.
There are no signs of respite.
Indeed, troubling projections suggest the conflict is poised to escalate yet further.
We continue to receive reports of civilian casualties caused by heavy fighting in populated areas.
We also continue to receive reports of shocking atrocities - most recently of mass killings and horrific sexual violence in Aj Jazirah State.
This has become a sickening hallmark of this conflict.
Women and girls continue to be at the centre of the horrendous suffering, as displacement and hunger put them at increased risk of gender-based violence and sexual violence, exploitation and abuse.
Mr. President,
Civilians continue to flee for their lives both within Sudan and across its borders, in what is now the world's largest displacement crisis. More than 11 million people have been displaced since April of last year - nearly 3 million of whom have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.
More than 400,000 people have been displaced in El Fasher locality in the past six months, according to the International Organization for Migration.
As fighting rages in West Darfur and North Darfur, 58,000 people crossed into Chad during the month of October alone, bringing the total number of new arrivals in eastern Chad to more than 710,000 people.
And more than 836,000 people have arrived to South Sudan from Sudan since the start of the crisis, including more than 644,000 refugee returnees, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
Mr. President,
This conflict has not only driven a major displacement crisis.
It has also unleashed a severe hunger crisis affecting millions of people across Sudan.
According to the last Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, analysis in June, more than 750,000 people were facing the very highest levels of food insecurity and famine conditions.
In the period since the last report, we have seen further displacement, continuing constraints on humanitarian access and an intensification of conflict in several areas.
This includes Aj Jazirah, Khartoum, Sennar and North Darfur, states which were already experiencing some of the highest levels of acute food insecurity in the country.
In North Darfur, fighting in and around El Fasher continues to intensify and block the movement of aid supplies into the area.
This is an area that includes the Zamzam displacement camp, where - as the Members of the Council are aware - famine conditions were confirmed in July.
A recent nutrition screening in Zamzam indicated worsening malnutrition, which is threatening the lives of thousands of children. About 34 per cent of the children are malnourished, including 10 per cent who are severely malnourished.
And we are now seeing troubling indications that deepening food insecurity is spreading to other areas, with reports in recent weeks of particularly alarming levels of hunger in South Kordofan.
I just cannot put strongly enough how serious this situation is. Hostilities and violence have claimed the lives of thousands of people in Sudan. Hunger, malnutrition and diseases threaten to claim the lives of hundreds of thousands of people more.
The international community must take what's happening in Sudan seriously and must take urgent action to address it.
Mr. President,
This must include immediately ensuring improved humanitarian access.
Humanitarian organizations remain unable to reach the vast majority of people in conflict hotspots across Sudan at anything approaching adequate scale.
Some areas are completely cut off. Others can only be reached after navigating complicated procedures that delay and impede deliveries.
The opening of the Adre crossing from Chad in August has provided an important lifeline for people in the areas it serves.
Over the past three months, more than 300 aid trucks have crossed into Sudan via the Adre crossing, carrying various forms of assistance for more than 1.3 million people.
As road conditions improve with the end of the rainy season, trucks carrying food and nutrition supplies are currently en route from the Adre crossing to Zamzam camp.
It is absolutely imperative that this crossing remains open for humanitarian supplies and personnel for as long as is necessary.
But we must also be clear that the Adre crossing alone is not sufficient.
While the Tine crossing has become passable with the end of the rainy season, intensified fighting along the route in recent weeks has challenged the onward movement of supplies and personnel.
And our ability to access key areas of need across conflict lines from Port Sudan remains severely limited.
We urgently need the parties to ensure the safe, rapid, unimpeded movement of both relief supplies and humanitarian personnel via all available routes, with the maximum possible flexibility.
We need the parties to facilitate our efforts to re-establish inter-agency hubs in key areas, including Zalingei in Central Darfur and Kadugli in South Kordofan. This is critical for scaling up the distribution of assistance and re-establishing links with local partners and communities on the front line of the response.
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We call for agreements on humanitarian pauses to facilitate the provision of assistance into, and the voluntary movement of civilians out of, areas of active hostilities.
In short, we call on the parties to turn their repeatedly stated commitment to their obligations under international humanitarian law into a real step change on the ground.
Mr. President,
We are deeply concerned by the alarming trajectory of this conflict. While it has already unleashed horrendous suffering, the conditions are there for it to claim exponentially more lives.
We call on the Security Council - and all Member States with influence - to take immediate unfettered action to address this situation.
The first priority, as the Secretary-General has clearly said, is for civilians to be protected, including through the implementation of the recommendations set out in his report to the Council.
Second, we need humanitarian access to be facilitated through all necessary routes.
Third, we need continued flexible financial support, so that humanitarian organizations can provide urgent assistance where they can, as well as scale up the response both inside Sudan and in neighbouring countries.
And finally, as always, we call for urgent steps to bring the fighting to an end and secure desperately needed peace in Sudan.
Thank you, Mr. President.
