Sudan, located in northeast Africa, is heading towards a devastating humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale, as warned by the United Nations. Despite doing everything in their power to mitigate the situation, humanitarian aid response is reaching its breaking point.
To begin with, it’s crucial to understand the complexity of the crisis. Multiple factors including political instability, economic downturn, extreme weather conditions, and continuing conflict have converged, causing an escalating humanitarian situation. However, none of these factors alone are singularly responsible for the emergency; instead, they operate together to create a destructive synergy.
The political instability began in 2019 when the authoritarian regime was overthrown, throwing the country into a volatile situation. The transition towards democracy has been tumultuous and marred by constant skirmishes between military factions, tribes, and rebel groups, leading to mass displacement of people. After the secession of South Sudan, armed conflicts continue to persist, predominantly in the Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile regions.
Compounding the political crisis are the economic challenges Sudan is currently facing. Amidst a global economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the country has been grappling with increasing inflation. Commodity prices have sky-rocketed, leading to further impoverishment of Sudanese households.
To worsen matters, East Africa has been battered by a series of extreme weather events such as droughts and floods. These climatic shocks have led to a decrease in agricultural production leading to severe food insecurity. Around 9.6 million people are faced with critical food shortages – the highest number ever recorded in Sudan.
The UN and other humanitarian organisations are responding steadfastly to this escalating crisis. Aid is being rendered in the form of food, clean water, medical care, shelter, and protection. However, despite these relentless efforts, the response’s capacity to address the scale of the crisis has reached its breaking point. Funding shortfalls, among other constraints such as access restrictions, have rendered the response efforts woefully inadequate.
According to the UN, the Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan targeted aid for over 8.9 million people for 2020 has only received 44% of its total funding. Without the required funding, global humanitarian agencies are being forced to halt or scale back their operations, resulting in weaker reach and a limited impact.
The most immediate and severe consequence of this inadequacy is acute malnutrition among Sudan’s children. An estimated 2.3 million children under the age of