Humanitarian Crisis Will Worsen in Sudan

UN aid funds only 22% of the 2023 relief budget of Sudan where 10,400 people have died and 6.3 million have been displaced.

Sudan's current civil war between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) has contributed to a growing humanitarian crisis, affecting the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Dwindling financial resources and logistical issues have impeded aid efforts. Furthermore, international support for Sudan has waned as other more recent conflicts have diverted attention away from the region.

Displacement of people will remain on the rise, basic necessities and medical care will become scarcer, and systemic violence against women and children will persist without strong intervention from the international community.

Analysis

Sudan's most recent civil war started on April 15, 2023. It has reached its seventh month with over 10,400 civilian deaths and 6.3 million displaced people in and around Sudan, and has led to the largest child displacement crisis in the world. On November 15, 2023, 50 Sudanese and civil society groups declared that they have evidence of crimes against humanity, sexual violence, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes perpetrated against civilians. These groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Darfur Women Action Group, called on the international community to intervene and prevent further violence in accordance with international humanitarian law and peace treaties that Sudan has signed or ratified such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Economic Rights, and the Juba Peace Agreement of 2020.

Fading International Financial Support

On September 4, 2023, the UN Refugee Agency and 64 humanitarian organizations appealed for $1 billion for aid and relief efforts in Sudan. This revision of the Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) extended the original plan until the end of 2023 and increased financial requirements from an initial $556 million to over that $1 billion. The United Nations has since delivered aid to 4.1 million people in Sudan, but this amounts to only 22% of the overall targeted assistance for 2023. Additionally, the RRP has only 33% of the funding necessary to carry out all needed humanitarian aid.

In October 2023, US President Joe Biden proposed a $105 billion funding request, encompassing $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel, $13.6 billion for US domestic border security, $9.15 billion for humanitarian aid, and $7.4 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific. Funding for international humanitarian aid would go to relief efforts for Palestinians, Israelis, and Ukrainian civilians suffering from ongoing conflicts. However, Sudan was absent in the new funding request and will not receive any funding for international humanitarian aid from this proposal.

Escalating Human Rights Violations

Growing violence, especially targeting women and children, has greatly increased the need for healthcare and protection. Of the 10,400 people killed since the start of the civil war, an estimated 1,300 people have died between September 30 and October 27. Since April 2023, over 3,130 allegations of severe children's rights violations have been reported with over half of these cases occurring in the Darfur region. Since 2020, Darfur has witnessed a 550% spike in children's rights violations, not limited to sexual violence, maiming, and killing.

Both sides in the conflict have committed extensive war crimes. On July 13, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, demanded an immediate investigation into the discovery of a mass grave of 87 bodies outside El Geneina, the capital of the West Darfur province. Human Rights Watch has accused the RSF and its allied militias of ethnic cleansing, as most of the victims are Masalit, an ethnic-African tribe. This attack resembles the 2003 genocide in Darfur, where the Sudanese government under former President Omar al-Bashir and the RSF killed hundreds of thousands of people. The attackers have predominantly executed men and boys who were perceived as potential fighters. Additionally, members of the RSF raped and subjected women to sexual slavery, with UNICEF disclosing that 48% of the total reported cases of sexual violence in Sudan occurred in Darfur.

Challenges to Aid Efforts

Humanitarian groups are facing challenges in dispersing aid due to the rapid spread of violence, threats to aid workers' lives, and inadequate aid services and infrastructures. So far, 45 aid workers have been killed or detained. Violence is spreading to new areas, like El-Obeid, Kadugli, and El-Geneina, as well as to the states of Kordofan and Blue Nile. This spread outpaces the ability of aid agencies to disperse aid and maintain worker safety.

The protracted conflict has blocked access to aid by obstructing electricity, water, health, and communication networks in most states. In Khartoum, where the fighting initially started, violence has made markets, schools, medical centers, roads, and government institutions inaccessible. The lack of access to these services has exacerbated the health crisis as disease outbreaks continue to be reported countrywide. The World Health Organization approximates that 70% of the hospitals in the conflict-ridden states are not working and the others are overwhelmed with the number of patients. Increased cases of acute cholera are being reported, with over 3,591 suspected cases and 115 associated deaths. Without access to vital care, patients are succumbing to treatable diseases.

Conclusion

Sudan's humanitarian crisis will continue to worsen without a more concerted effort from the international community to intervene. The longer Sudan's war is overlooked by the international community, the greater the death toll and the less of a chance for peaceful resolution.



Alexis Sawyer is a Master of Arts in International Relations candidate at JHU-SAIS. Her main research interests are American foreign policy in the Middle East and the onset of civil conflicts in the MENA-region. Alexis was a Boren Scholar in Morocco after receiving her BA in Political Science from UCLA.