Sudan: Briefing
Tomorrow morning (6 August), the Security Council will hold an open briefing to discuss the humanitarian situation in Sudan. Briefings are expected from Director of OCHA’s Operations and Advocacy Division Edem Wosornu and World Food Programme (WFP) Assistant Executive Director for Workplace and Management Stephen Omollo. The meeting was requested by the UK (the penholder on the file), joined by Guyana and Switzerland (the Council’s informal co-focal points on conflict and hunger), and supported by France, Slovenia, and the US. Sudan is expected to participate under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.
The likely focus of tomorrow’s meeting is the 1 August report of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC), which analyses current and projected food insecurity levels in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) located near El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. The report determines that famine conditions are present in the camp, which houses approximately 500,000 people, and are expected to persist from August through October. It adds that the likelihood of famine further persisting in the camp from November to January 2025 remains high, due to the likely continuation of conflict, access restrictions, and the expected poor harvest, among other things. (According to the IPC, famine exists in “areas where at least one in five households has or is most likely to have an extreme deprivation of food”. In such situations, “starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition are or will likely be evident”.) The report also notes that similar conditions are likely prevailing in other IDP sites in the El Fasher area, notably in the Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps. However, due to a lack of outcome data and uncertainties regarding population status and size, the FRC did not classify these areas as experiencing famine.
The ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which began in April 2023, has triggered a devastating humanitarian crisis in Sudan, including significant civilian casualties, mass displacement, severe food and water shortages, and the collapse of healthcare and essential services. Across the country, around 25.6 million people are expected to face acute levels of food insecurity—described by the IPC as crisis level conditions or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above)—between June and September, according to the IPC’s latest report on the food insecurity situation in the country, dated 27 June. Of this total, 755,000 people are expected to face catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5) in ten states, including Greater Darfur, South and North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Al Jazirah, and Khartoum. The report identified 14 areas in nine states expected to face a risk of famine. (For background and more information, see the Sudan brief in our June 2024 Monthly Forecast as well as 17 June and 28 July What’s in Blue stories.)
Since early April, El Fasher—the only capital in the Darfur region outside the RSF’s control—has been one of the main areas of contention and strife between the warring parties, marked by intercommunal fighting. According to the 1 August FRC report, towns and farmlands around El Fasher have been significantly affected by hostilities, with entire villages burnt or razed to the ground. In recent months, several actors—including media outlets and humanitarian organisations—have accused the warring parties of indiscriminately killing civilians and damaging civilian infrastructure, including through the shelling of the Abu Shouk camp by both sides and the shelling of hospitals and healthcare facilities in and around El Fasher. Between 1 April and 30 June, approximately 328,981 people had been displaced from the El Fasher locality, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). (For background and more information, see our 28 April and 23 May What’s in Blue stories.)
At tomorrow’s meeting, the briefers are expected to highlight the impediments to humanitarian access and underline the importance of ensuring full and rapid humanitarian access through all modalities—including cross-line (across conflict lines within Sudan) and cross-border (across Sudan’s borders with some of its neighbouring countries). The FRC report attributes the access challenges largely to ongoing fighting, restrictions on cross-border movements, and poor road conditions. The report notes that access to the El Fasher locality has been reduced to only a few usable routes from the south and west of the Zamzam camp because of ongoing fighting.
The Tine border crossing at the Chad-Sudan border—the only crossing authorised by the Sudanese authorities for the UN and partner agencies to conduct humanitarian operations from Chad—as well as many other routes in the southern part of Sudan remain inaccessible due to flooding. The FRC report said that the last aid distribution to the famine-affected area took place in April and added that future distributions are unlikely before the end of the lean season (June to September) unless an agreement is reached to open the Adre crossing at the Chad-Sudan border, which is typically the main route to access this area. (On 21 February, Sudan announced its decision to suspend cross-border aid delivery through the Adre crossing, citing concerns about potential weapons transfers into Darfur.)
In addition, the expansion of fighting in south-western Sennar state in late June has severely affected WFP operations across the region, including in White Nile, Blue Nile, Kassala, and Gedaref states. The fighting has blocked the route from Port Sudan to the city of Kosti through Sennar, cutting off vital aid to hundreds of thousands of people, including many at risk of famine in the Kordofans and Darfur. (For background and more information, see our 17 June and 28 July What’s in Blue stories.)
The briefers may also describe the recent efforts led by the UN and partner agencies to scale up the humanitarian response, including in major hunger hotspots. On 29 July, Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan Toby Harward held a press briefing following a two-week mission to Darfur, which focused on conducting reconnaissance for UN common premises to establish a permanent presence and engaging with local authorities, non-governmental organisations, and community leaders in Central and West Darfur. He said that despite restricted access across the Tine border crossing, the UN has moved over 320 trucks into Darfur from Chad in recent weeks, with the majority of supplies destined for areas classified as witnessing IPC Phase 4 and 5 conditions. Describing the dire humanitarian situation, he said that camp leaders in the Zalingei region informed the UN team that some IDPs are “surviv[ing] on tree leaves, grain husks, and ground nut remnants”. He underscored the need for the “de facto authorities on the ground” to ensure command and control of their forces, and affiliated militias to prevent looting, taxation, and diversion of trucks.
At tomorrow’s meeting, the briefers and several Council members are expected to reiterate their calls on the warring parties to immediately cease hostilities and re-commit to negotiations. Some members may call for the full implementation of resolution 2736 of 13 June, which demanded that the RSF halt the siege of El Fasher and called for an immediate halt to the fighting and for de-escalation in and around El Fasher. They may also call on the parties to comply with obligations under international humanitarian law, including those pertaining to resolution 2417 of 24 May 2018 on armed conflict and food insecurity, regarding the protection of civilians and the responsibility to protect objects indispensable for food production and distribution. On several occasions in recent months, most recently during an 18 July press stakeout, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield (US) has underlined the need for the Council to “consider all tools at its disposal, including authorizing aid to move from critical crossings, like at the Adre [b]order, into Sudan”. On the other hand, members such as Russia have argued that any cooperation and coordination on humanitarian assistance should be carried out via channels agreed with the Sudanese authorities, stressing that they remain the only entity responsible for aid distribution and relief assistance. (For more information on Council dynamics regarding the issue of humanitarian access, see our 13 June What’s in Blue story.)
