Matilda Fu, the spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Sudan, stated yesterday, Sunday, that children in Sudan are dying daily from hunger, describing the situation as appalling. The Sudanese “Dabanga” radio site reported her saying, “The situation in Sudan is catastrophic, with no humanitarian organization or individual wanting to see a famine in Sudan,” according to her.
Matilda Fu commented on a joint report issued by three humanitarian organizations, stating that “children in Sudan are dying from hunger due to a historic famine the country is experiencing amidst ongoing war.”
The report from the three organizations—Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council, and Mercy Corps—last week detailed, “Sudan is experiencing a famine crisis of historic proportions… People are dying from hunger every day, yet the focus remains on semantic discussions and legal definitions.”
The report added that “more than 25 million people, over half of the population, are suffering from acute food insecurity. Many families have been forced for months to survive on one meal a day and resort to eating leaves or insects.”
Matilda sees that “people can no longer afford food because they have been displaced; they have lost everything due to the economic collapse. They have no means to earn a living, and prices have escalated across the country. This is why people are suffering from hunger, not because Sudan does not produce enough food, but because it’s a matter of affordability.”
On his part, the acting Sudanese Minister of Agriculture, Abu Bakr al-Bashir, denied any indicators of famine in the country and accused humanitarian organizations that speak of a famine in Sudan of “conspiring against the country,” noting that “there is enough food in Sudan,” according to him.
The acting Minister of Agriculture questioned, in press statements: “How were the relief organizations that publish these reports able to gather information amidst the deteriorating security situation in Sudan?”
Matilda Fu, commenting on the minister’s remarks, said, “It is extremely difficult to collect data across the country, as there are places in Sudan that may not have a regulatory body or a famine monitoring authority. We have been able to collect that information based on the data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), where reports have indicated famine in no less than 14 locations, I mean Zamzam camp, in addition to 13 other sites.”
The battles between the Sudanese Army forces and the Rapid Support Forces have been ongoing since mid-April 2023, resulting in about 13,100 deaths, while the total number of displaced people in Sudan has reached about 7.9 million, and about 2.1 million people to neighboring countries, according to United Nations data.
