WFP: Food Aid to Sudanese Refugees in Chad Will be Suspended Without Funding
World Food Programme (WFP) Representative Pierre Honnorat said donors are necessary to avoid an “all-out catastrophe” in Chad, where thousands of Sudanese refugees are starving amidst the United Nation’s diminishing aid operations (Reuters)
Meanwhile, Sudan’s military took control of the Rapid Support Force (RSF) paramilitary’s national television and radio headquarters in Omdurman (Al Jazeera)
Rapid Support Force Endorses Ramadan Ceasefire
The paramilitary group came out in favor of the UN Security Council resolution introduced by Russia calling for a ceasefire during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan; Sudan’s military also supported the measure (AP)
UN Warns Sudan War Tipping Toward ‘World’s Largest Hunger Crisis’
The nearly one-year-old civil war in Sudan has already created the world’s largest displacement crisis and now risks “triggering the world’s largest hunger crisis,” UN World Food Program (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain said yesterday in South Sudan; she called for a stop to fighting and for improved humanitarian access in the country, where eighteen million people are acutely food insecure (WFP)
While the hunger crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region twenty years ago rallied a global response, McCain added that today, the people of Sudan have been “forgotten” (CNN)
Authorities in Sudan have revoked permission for aid trucks to cross its borders, even as the hunger crisis spills into neighboring Chad and South Sudan; some twenty-five million people in the three countries face hunger (Al-Monitor)
McCain’s warning came as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said that the United Nations found evidence that “elements” of the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces had raped girls as young as fourteen and indiscriminately targeted civilians (USUN)
The United Nations has previously called these crimes against humanity and warned that more than four million women and girls were at risk of sexual violence (Al Jazeera)
Libya, Turkey to Mediate Sudanese War
The Sudanese army plans to engage in indirect talks with rival paramilitary force Rapid Support Forces regarding a “peaceful solution” to their war, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Al-Sadiq Ali said; the plans for mediation come as the war approaches its one-year anniversary next month and as fears grow that the conflict will become a greater proxy war (Al-Monitor)
Nearly five million Sudanese people are experiencing emergency levels of hunger, more than triple that of last year (Reuters)
UN Official Warns of Possible War Crimes, Sexual Violence
Human Rights Chief Volker Turk referred to the situation in Sudan as a “living nightmare,” expressing his concerns over disregard for human life and indiscriminate killings of civilians amidst the food crisis in the war-torn country (Al Jazeera)
South Sudanese Refugee Camps Extremely Over Capacity
The United Nations stated that over five hundred and sixty thousand Sudanese have fled to South Sudan; the number of people displaced by civil war has risen to nearly eight million since the beginning of the conflict (Al Jazeera)
Network Blackout Leaves Millions Isolated in Sudan
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese paramilitary organization, was blamed for the communications outage, which hindered aid deliveries and left millions without the ability to contact others; the RSF denied responsibility (Reuters)
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General António Guterres asserted that there is no military solution for the ongoing conflict and called for an immediate ceasefire (AP)
United Nations Launches $4.1 Billion Aid Appeal for Sudan, Neighboring Countries
Roughly half of Sudan’s population, or twenty-five million people, needs humanitarian assistance amid the current war, the UN emergency relief coordinator said (UN News)
Doctors Without Borders has described the situation in Sudan’s North Darfur region as “absolutely catastrophic,” with a child dying of malnutrition every two hours (The Guardian)
United Nations Refugee Chief Warns of Sudanese Migrant Crisis in Europe
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi cautioned that without a ceasefire agreement between Sudan’s warring parties, Europe may face an influx of Sudanese refugees, as neighboring countries, such as Libya and Tunisia, will struggle to assist the migrants given their own “fragilities” (AP)
Rapid Support Forces Shut Down Internet Connections From Two Major Providers
The paramilitary group demanded the restoration of internet connectivity in the western Darfur region, the state news agency reported and two unnamed sources told Reuters; neither the providers nor the paramilitary force, which is battling Sudan’s military, commented on the matter (Reuters)
U.S. Treasury Department Sanctions Three Firms Directly Involved in Civil War
Two of the companies supply the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces, and the third supplies the Sudanese army, the Department said (Reuters)
UN Report: Ethnic Violence in West Darfur Killed Betweeen Ten and Fifteen Thousand People
Intelligence sources estimate that between ten and fifteen thousand people were killed in ethnic violence in the city of El Geneina last year by paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces and allied Arab militia; this estimate for one city is higher than a separate UN estimate that about twelve thousand people have died across the entirety of Sudan since war broke out last April, underscoring the devastating toll of the conflict (Reuters)
U.S., AU, and EU Call for Sudan Cease-Fire at Regional Summit
Envoys from the United States, African Union (AU), and EU called for a halt in fighting and constructive dialogue between warring groups in Sudan at an emergency leaders summit of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an East African regional bloc; Sudan’s government suspended ties with the bloc earlier this week (AP)
The United Nations also announced that it began investigating human rights violations committed during Sudan’s civil war (UN)
Sudan Suspends Contact With East African Mediators
Sudan’s foreign ministry said that the government froze its contact with mediators from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a group of East African countries that had previously sought to broker talks between the Sudanese government and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) (Reuters)
International Aid Agencies Studying New Access Route via South Sudan
Agencies lost access to the former aid hub of Wad Madani in December following its seizure by paramilitary forces, a senior UN official said; more than 7.5 million people have fled their homes since the country’s civil war broke out nine months ago, making it the biggest displacement crisis worldwide (Reuters)
Doctors Without Borders Suspends Its Activities at One of the Last Standing Hospitals in Khartoum
The group said it halted its activities due to repeated attacks (Reuters)
Armed fighters have entered and threatened staff “despite extensive engagements with all stakeholders” (AFP)
RSF General Meets With Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
This was Hamdan Dagalo’s first known foreign trip since the RSF began fighting a civil war against the Sudanese army in April; Dagalo’s whereabouts during the war have largely been unknown (Reuters)
Meanwhile, Sudan’s foreign ministry said yesterday that a meeting in Djibouti to discuss an end to the conflict will be rescheduled to January over technical issues (VoA)
UN Pauses Food Aid to War-Torn Sudanese State Due to Fighting
Clashes in El Gezira state are preventing the UN World Food Program from delivering assistance, the agency said; about three hundred thousand people have fled the state since December 15, when fighting between Sudan’s army and paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces escalated (Bloomberg)
The International Committee of the Red Cross also pulled out of the state’s capital, Wad Madani, saying it was “turning into another death trap” for civilians (France24)
Paramilitary Group Pushes Into Sudan’s Second Largest City, Displacing Hundreds of Thousands
Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has entered the city of Wad Madani, which has been an aid hub and shelter for displaced people amid the RSF’s war with the Sudanese army; in just four days, at least 250,000 to 300,000 people fled the state of El Gezira where Wad Madani is located, the International Organization for Migration said yesterday (Reuters)
A UN humanitarian official called the situation a “nightmare”; aid officials have said Sudan’s war is one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises (WaPo)
Roughly half of the population is in need of aid, but it is highly underfunded as global attention has focused on the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip (France24)
The RSF’s advance into Wad Madani comes after the group took over four of the five capitals in the western Darfur region (Guardian)
The United States, Saudi Arabia, and a group of neighboring African countries have all attempted to negotiate an end to the fighting without success since the conflict broke out in April (Reuters)
Attack on Aid Convoy in Sudan Kills Two, Injures Seven
International Committee of the Red Cross vehicles were attacked before a planned evacuation of over one hundred civilians from Khartoum; the Sudanese army said the convoy came under fire when approaching its position in an alleged rebel vehicle (Reuters)
Sudan’s Warring Parties Agree in Principle on Meeting to Discuss Cease-Fire
At talks in Djibouti on Saturday, mediators from the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) said leaders of both sides in Sudan’s civil war agreed in principle to hold a meeting in the next fifteen days to lay out steps toward reaching a cease-fire (Reuters)
Security Council Votes to Terminate UN Mission in Sudan
The decision came after Sudan ordered the United Nations to withdraw the Integrated Transitional Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS); despite unanimously voting to approve the resolution, some Security Council members expressed concern about the mission’s departure given the country’s current humanitarian and security crisis (UN)
Washington Post: Civilians Forcibly Recruited to Fight in Sudan
Both the Sudanese army and rebel paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces battling in the country’s civil war that began in April have reportedly forcibly recruited civilians and even some refugees to fight (WaPo)
Sudanese General Accuses UAE of Supplying Military Planes to RSF
Yasser al-Atta, a top Sudanese general, openly accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of supplying the Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with military planes in a speech that was then circulated on social media; a UAE official said that Abu Dhabi has consistently called for de-escalation, a cease-fire, and diplomatic dialogue in Sudan’s civil war (Reuters)
Thirty-Two People Killed in Sudan’s Disputed Abyei Region
A UN peacekeeper was among those killed when unknown militants reportedly attacked two villages in the region, which South Sudan also claims; intercommunal conflict has increased since South Sudan deployed troops to the disputed territory in March (AP)