By Mallory Moench
While the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza has been at the center of the world’s focus, international organizations have been sounding the alarm about the ongoing conflict in Sudan, where mass killings and rapes have been reported and millions of people displaced.
War broke out in Sudan in April between forces loyal to the country’s military chief and Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Up to 9,000 people were killed in the first six months of the war, the United Nations said. More than six million people have been displaced within and outside Sudan, according to the U.N., creating what has been described as the world’s largest internal displacement crisis in the world.
The Eurovpean Union, U.N., U.S. and U.K. have warned of human rights atrocities targeting the Massalit tribe in the Darfur region—echoing a genocide that killed 300,000 people and displaced more than two million between 2003 and 2008.
Local human rights monitors told Al Jazeera that around 1,300 people were killed after the RSF besieged a camp for displaced people in West Darfur over three days in early November. The U.N. has reported discoveries of mass graves and gathered reports of rape used as a weapon of war.
“The international community cannot turn a blind eye on what is happening in Darfur and allow another genocide to happen in this region,” the European Union’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said in a statement on Nov. 12. The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor is investigating alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, warning that history is at risk of repeating itself.
Below is a list of aid organizations and charities currently helping those impacted by the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
UNHCR
The U.N.’s Refugee Agency is on the ground in Sudan and neighboring countries, providing shelter, safety, and cash assistance to buy emergency supplies and basic goods such as baby kits. You can donate directly to support people forced to flee war in Sudan.
Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
The medical aid organization is working in Sudan and neighboring Chad to provide medical and mental health care to people who have survived injuries and rape. MSF asks that donors give unrestricted funding to allow the organization to direct to where the needs are greatest and respond swiftly to emergencies. You can donate to MSF’s general fund here.
Save the Children
Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and has said it directly reached 1.5 million children there last year. The organization provides emergency medical supplies, trauma kits, mobile health clinics, nutrition supplements and offers access to education, play and programming.
The organization says that donations to its children’s emergency fund will go to support children in Sudan and neighboring countries with blankets, food, health care, shelter, legal services for survivors of gender based violence, and more.
UNICEF
The U.N.’s children’s fund says that it needs $837.6 million to continue providing health care, nutrition, education and psychosocial support to people affected by the crisis in Sudan. You can donate to their urgent appeal here.
World Food Programme
The U.N. aid organization says it has supported 3.6 million people in Sudan with emergency food and nutrition assistance since the conflict started. You can donate directly to its Sudan emergency fund.
The International Committee of the Red Cross/Sudanese Red Crescent Society
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been working in Sudan since 1978. The organization said it provides emergency assistance, supports hospitals with supplies, distributes seeds and tools to farmers, and works with local authorities to provide clean water and rehabilitation services for people with disabilities. On Oct. 30, the organization announced it facilitated the release of 64 detainees held by the RSF. You can donate to ICRC’s Sudan appeal here.
The ICRC says that it works either independently or in cooperation with the Sudanese Red Crescent Society, the local branch of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). In the first two months of the war, the local branch said it moved more than 1,520 tonnes of food, relief items and medical supplies into the country. You can also donate to the IFRC’s Sudan complex emergency appeal.
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