How the UN can help resolve Sudan’s humanitarian crisis

· 1. Famine: Despite credible assertions that famine has already arrived in Sudan, a famine has not yet been officially declared. This has been attributed to issues including the UN’s deferral to a Sudanese military government argued to have a vested interest in objecting to a formal famine declaration. Nonetheless, solutions have been proposed to ensure that much-needed aid reaches starving Sudanese.

· 2. The humanitarian response: The International Rescue Committee identified five key challenges facing Sudan’s humanitarian response, and proposed solutions to mitigate them.

· 3. Refugees: Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia and Chad face escalating health emergencies due to aid shortages and restrictions on their movement to the UAE, Uganda and Egypt.

1. Famine

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warn that there is a realistic chance of famine in at least 14 areas across in Sudan, including: parts of the capital Khartoum, neighbouring Al-Jazira state, and the Kordofan and Darfur regions (Reuters, 27 June). With over half of Sudan’s 48 million people facing chronic hunger, this leaves over 750,000 at risk of death by starvation (New York Times, 27 June).

Why has a famine not been declared?

A famine can be declared by the IPC – a collaboration that includes UN agencies, governments and aid groups which produces internationally recognised assessments of food crises – if at least 20% of the population in an area are suffering extreme food shortages (Reuters, 27 June).

Indeed, famine scholar Alex de Waal said Sudan’s starvation crisis is unprecedented for at least 40 years (New York Times, 27 June). Similarly, Confluence advisory think-tank founder Kholood Khair, researcher and editor Raga Makawi and writer Joshua Craze suggest that Sudan faces “the largest famine the world has seen for at least forty years” (New York Review of Books, 23 June). Yet, the IPC is yet to officially declare a famine (New York Times, 27 June). This can be attributed to factors including difficulties collecting data and the Sudanese government’s aim to prevent a formal famine declaration.

Data collection

The New York Times’ (27 June) Declan Walsh attributes the IPC’s inability to formally declare a famine in Sudan to “in part – because reliable data is hard to obtain” amid Sudan’s health system collapsing and aid workers being unable to reach the worst-affected areas because of intense fighting and restrictions imposed by the warring parties.

The UN’s deference to the Sudanese army

With the UN “waiting for the IPC” before formally declaring a famine, Khair, Makawi and Craze note that the IPC is undertaking an assessment in collaboration with a Sudanese army “which has obvious incentives to delay such an announcement”.

(New York Review of Books, 23 June).

Why the army does not want a famine declaration

Providing context on the Sudanese military government’s reluctance to allow the UN to formally declare a famine, Alex de Waal wrote that “[the army] has a vested interest in avoiding a formal declaration of famine in Darfur because that would increase pressure to permit the flow of aid to [areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces militia]”. The motivation for this, de Waal argues, is that “the Sudanese army believes that forcing starvation in RSF areas can destroy the group’s base”. De Waal added that the army used the strategy of restricting aid flow into enemy territory in previous wars, under the assumption that “aid kept the rebellion alive [and] aid workers became sympathisers with the rebel cause” (Foreign Affairs, 17 June).

Famine solutions for the UN

Given the army’s interest in a formal famine declaration that may allow aid to flow into RSF-held territory, Khair, Makkawi and Craze note that the UN’s deference to the army for authorisation hampers efforts to mitigate “the largest famine the world has seen for at least forty years”. The authors attributed this to the UN’s fear of expulsion by Sudanese authorities. Nonetheless, they proposed solutions to overcome such challenges (New York Review of Books, 23 June).

· Despite the army’s objections, Khair, Makawi and Craze calls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to unilaterally declare a famine, thereby unlock more funding and pressure for humanitarian access to RSF-held areas.

· While the UN fears expulsion, the authors note its leverage as “the [WFP] is too big to expel” given the army’s reliance on it to feed its territory and maintain support.

· Furthermore, the authors propose that the army’s restrictions on cross-border aid delivery into RSF-held territory can be overcome by the UN relocating operations to a regional capital outside the army’s control, establishing cross-border hubs in Chad and South Sudan, and directly engaging with local forces, including the RSF.

2. The humanitarian response

The International Rescue Committee (25 June) identified the five challenges facing the response to Sudan’s humanitarian crisis, and proposed solutions to mitigate them.

Five challenges

The IRC identified the following five challenges facing the response to Sudan’s humanitarian crisis:

· The targeting of humanitarian workers and looting of supplies

· Restrictions on aid delivery

· Restrictions on humanitarian actors

· Targeting and destruction of infrastructure

· Weak response leadership (with the UN in particular being blamed)

1. TARGETING OF HUMANITARIAN WORKERS AND LOOTING OF SUPPLIES

Insecurity in Sudan makes it a difficult and dangerous place for aid delivery as:

· Increased violence along ethnic lines makes the situation even more challenging, as agencies must carefully consider the background of staff before deploying them to different regions of the country.

· UN OCHA said that over 150 vehicles have been stolen from aid organizations, while 61 offices and 57 warehouses have been looted.

· The World Food Programme (WFP) has estimated that over $13 million of food aid has been looted since the war began.

2. RESTRICTIONS ON AID DELIVERY

Sudan has the highest level for severity of access restraints according to the Assessment Capacities Project, with contributing factors including:

· Since the start of the conflict, hundreds of international NGO staff have faced lengthy delays in obtaining visas.

· Approximately 30,000 metric tons of aid were sitting in Port Sudan, Al-Obeid and Kosti as of mid-May 2024, awaiting permissions for onward movement.

· Security services in White Nile and Khartoum regularly seek to “accompany” humanitarian workers delivering aid and reportedly prevent access to certain locations.

· Fighters at checkpoints sometimes demand payments from humanitarian personnel to be allowed to pass.

3. HUMANITARIAN ACTORS BLOCKED FROM CROSSING FRONTLINES AND BORDERS TO REACH PEOPLE IN NEED

With Sudan divided into regions of army and RSF control, aid must move across frontlines and borders to reach those who need it, but “both sides are consistently undermining these efforts”. Following accusations that the RSF was transporting weapons from Chad, the army revoked its previous non-objection to cross-border aid delivery.

The only way for humanitarian aid to reach millions living in RSF-held parts of Sudan is by bringing it across frontlines within the country. Yet, to date, no sustained agreements on crossline aid access have been reached.

OCHA reported that denial of permission to move within Sudan or to cross an international border, combined with ongoing conflict, blocked the transport of humanitarian aid to over 600,000 in Darfur, 300,000 in Kordofan and 100,000 in Khartoum. Since August 2023, there have been almost no crossline deliveries in Khartoum state due to this.

4. TARGETING AND DESTRUCTION OF ESSENTIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

· Sudan’s health care system has virtually collapsed, with at least 307 incidents of violence against health care workers or facilities recorded since the war began.

· Both sides reportedly use facilities for military purposes.

· Banking operations are almost completely suspended as many bank headquarters, most of which were based in Khartoum, have been closed due to insecurity, power outages and looting.

· Both sides were blamed for regular and widespread telecommunications outages

5. WEAK RESPONSE LEADERSHIP AND ENGAGEMENT OF LOCAL RESPONDERS

Although humanitarian organisations depend on coordination and information provided by UN agencies, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) say that “a lack of UN leadership and the limited presence of UN agencies and staff across the country, including senior decision-makers and essential monitoring teams, are undermining efforts to ensure assistance reaches those most in need”.

The IRC add that decisions made by the UN-led Humanitarian Country team lack explanations, instructions or monitoring, with field-level coordination structures “ineffective” and “meetings sporadic”.

The IRC further claim that UN-led coordination efforts take place in English which “excludes many local organizations and responders without whom an appropriate, at-scale response cannot happen”.

Yet, three out of every five dollars provided by donors for the Sudan response has been directed to UN agencies, despite their comparatively limited presence, while locally led organisations and responders have been “woefully underfunded”.

Solutions for “resetting” Sudan’s humanitarian response

Nonetheless, the International Rescue Committee (25 June) proposed solutions for resetting Sudan’s humanitarian response, including:

· Food insecurity: donors and the UN urgently scaling up funding for and delivery of cash operations, and support Sudanese farmers to plant crops and improve food production by expanding access to agricultural inputs.

· Increased funding for local responders, alongside reforming structures to increase opportunities for local responders to directly access grants, prioritising reforming the Sudan Humanitarian Fund which failed to fund any local responders in 2023.

· Senior access coordinator appointed by the UN Secretary General.

· Strengthen and decentralise UN response leadership in Sudan with UN operational hubs across the country led by senior staff, and an Emergency Telecommunications Cluster increasing capacity to all humanitarian actors can access services.

· Increase the UN Security Council’s scrutiny of the crisis by holding regular, open briefing sessions led by the secretary general and the emergency relief coordinator, and creating safe opportunities for NGOs and local responders to share their experiences of humanitarian access barriers.

3.Refugees

Urgent appeals for humanitarian aid have been issued for Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia and Chad, where health emergencies are escalating due to lack of proper care and sanitation. In addition, restrictions are being imposed on Sudanese seeking refuge in the UAE, Uganda and Egypt.

Urgent humanitarian appeals

Humanitarian appeals have been made for Sudanese refugees in neighbouring Ethiopia to the east and Chad to the west, whereby there are severe health crises amid the lack of care and sanitation.

Ethiopia

As reported in previous week’s reports, Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia are also being targeted by Ethiopian militias (Reuters, 7 June), who killed and injured women searching for water (Sudan Tribune, 18 June).

Last week, however, the No to Women’s Oppression initiative launched an urgent humanitarian appeal to the international community to resolve the crisis of Sudanese refugees stranded in the Kumer and Olala camps in the forests of Ethiopia, estimated at 6,248 people, including 2,133 children, 76 people with disabilities, and 1,196 sick people

The initiative called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Ethiopian authorities to evacuate all refugees to safe camps and provide them with essential resources, in a statement that documented how refugees were dying due to lack of medical care.

According to the statement, “forty-three births were performed using a razor and nylon bags, with wounds stitched using regular thread after boiling it,” with four cases of paralysis occurring among refugees due to incorrect drug injections, and the lack of oxygen to assist with breathing causing instant deaths (Radio Dabanga, 24 June).

Chad

The UN’s refugee agency is calling for urgent international support as the humanitarian crisis in eastern Chad reaches a critical point. Since April 2023, the conflict in Sudan has reportedly forced over 600,000 refugees and 180,000 Chadian returnees to flee into Chad, with more than 115,000 arriving since the start of 2024.

A third of new arrivals remain in dire conditions along the border, with Adre town, originally home to 40,000 people, struggling to accommodate a six fold population increase.

Overcrowded and unsanitary conditions in Adre led to a severe health crisis, with over 1,200 cases of Hepatitis E reported, including three fatalities. The impending rainy season threatens to exacerbate this crisis, potentially leading to outbreaks of waterborne diseases and impeding humanitarian access. The potential for further displacement remains high amid fighting in Al-Fashir, widespread looting and burning of villages, and a looming famine in Sudan (Sudan Tribune, 25 June)

Refugees facing restrictions

As Sudan’s humanitarian crisis worsens, countries that Sudanese refugees aim to go to are starting to impose restrictions, including the UAE and Uganda. While we reported on Egypt’s mass deportations of Sudanese refugees, new figures show how Sudanese form the highest proportion of refugees in Egypt.

United Arab Emirates

Radio Dabanga (26 June) report that the UAE announced the suspension of the ‘emergency’ residence permits, which grants residence to those fleeing the ongoing war for Sudanese refugees who possess any type of visit permit.

The UAE had previously included Sudan on the list of countries eligible for emergency accommodation following the outbreak of war on 15 April 2024. Sudanese refugees could obtain this permit by paying 1,200 Dirhams annually.

Initially, five of the seven emirates offered the residence permits to Sudanese nationals, but three had ceased issuing them recently. Two that still accept applications have a rejection rate of about 90%.

Uganda

Open Democracy (25 June) reported that, in Uganda, Sudanese refugees “feel stuck” after the country announced a change to its ‘open door’ policy amid funding crisis. In January 2024, the Ugandan government announced that Sudanese refugees would no longer be able to register as refugees while living in the capital and other urban towns around the country. All arrivals must instead now live in refugee camps to obtain such documents – and stay in the camps thereafter.

The move is a drastic change of policy for Uganda. Refugees previously had the right to work and move freely throughout the country, with access to health and education. They were also given a small plot of land to cultivate, and food and financial support. An anonymous Ugandan official told the Ayin network that restrictions were introduced for security reasons and to reduce pressure on local services.

Egypt

Previous week’s reports covered how Sudanese refugees were dying on their way to Egypt (Radio Dabanga, 11 June), yet those who arrived are being “unlawfully” deported in large numbers (Amnesty, 19 June).

Indeed, Sudan Tribune (25 June) reported that Egypt is hosting at least 672,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers from 62 countries, with Sudanese forming the largest group. According to figures from the UN refugee agency, this represents over double the number from a year ago, with more than 617,000 forced to flee Sudan approaching its office in Egypt since April 2023.