Ongoing fighting and global funding cuts have pushed more than 33 million people towards hunger, making Sudan one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, nongovernmental organisations said on Friday

Millions of people in Sudan urgently need humanitarian assistance, aid organisations have warned, as the conflict in the East African country reached its 1,000th day.

Ongoing fighting and global funding cuts have pushed more than 33 million people towards hunger, making Sudan one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, nongovernmental organisations said on Friday.

The groups warned that hunger levels are reaching unprecedented levels and urged governments worldwide to intensify efforts to end the war between Sudan’s military leaders and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which erupted in April 2023.

Both sides have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The RSF has also been linked to atrocities in Darfur that the United Nations says could amount to genocide.

Renewed fighting in the regions of Darfur and Kordofan has displaced millions more people, further worsening the crisis.

A recent UN assessment in North Darfur found that more than half of young children are malnourished among the highest rates ever recorded globally according to Islamic Relief.

The organisation said more than 45 percent of Sudan’s population, over 21 million people, is facing acute food shortages. An assessment by Islamic Relief in Gedaref and Darfur found that 83 percent of families lack sufficient food.

Separately, a coalition of 13 aid agencies called on the British government, as the UN Security Council penholder on Sudan, to push for increased humanitarian funding and stronger international action to end the fighting.

In a joint statement, the agencies said the world’s largest food crisis has left more than 21 million people struggling with severe hunger. Millions of displaced people are living in overcrowded and unsafe settlements plagued by disease outbreaks, hunger and gender-based violence.

The conflict has devastated livelihoods and public services, with an estimated 70 to 80 percent of hospitals and health facilities damaged or non-operational, leaving about 65 percent of the population without access to healthcare, the statement said.

“This war cannot be allowed to continue,” said Elsadig Elnour, Islamic Relief’s senior programme manager in Sudan. “For 1,000 days, civilians have been attacked, starved and forced from their homes as the country is torn apart.”

Aid groups also warned that deep cuts to humanitarian funding particularly by the United States have forced Sudan to compete with other major crises, including Gaza, Ukraine and Myanmar, for diminishing global aid resources.

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