War-wrecked Sudan humanitarian crisis at “a catastrophic breaking point”— UN

By Jamey Keaten and Samy Magdy |AP

War-wrecked Sudan’s humanitarian crisis is at “a catastrophic breaking point” amid fighting and devastating flooding, the U.N. migration agency said Monday, ahead of peace talks planned for later this week.

The talks face uncertainty as Sudan’s military has yet to confirm its participation in the meeting in Switzerland brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia.

The northeastern African nation plunged into chaos in April last year when tensions between the military and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, turned into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, before spreading across the country. The western region of Darfur has seen some of the most devastating bouts of fighting.

The conflict has killed thousands of people and pushed many into starvation. Its atrocities include mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the U.N. and international rights groups.

Sudan’s war has created the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 10.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began, according to the International Organization for Migration. Over 2 million of those fled to neighboring countries.

Devastating floods in recent weeks have compounded the tragedy. Dozens of people have been killed and critical infrastructure has been washed away in 11 of Sudan’s 18 provinces, according to local authorities.

“We are at a breaking point, a catastrophic, cataclysmic breaking point,” said Othman Belbeisi, IOM’s regional director.

These conditions will worsen if the war and restrictions on humanitarian access continue, Belbeisi warned: “Without an immediate, massive and coordinated global response, we risk witnessing tens of thousands of preventable deaths in the coming months.”

Last month, global experts confirmed that starvation at a massive camp for displaced people in Darfur has grown into famine. And about 25.6 million people — more than half of Sudan’s population — will face acute hunger, the experts from the Famine Review Committee warned.

Fighting rages in Darfur’s city of al-Fasher and the southeastern province of Sennar, where clashes forced over 700,000 people to flee last month, according to the IOM.

The military has yet to confirm it will attend a new round of cease-fire talks that are scheduled for Wednesday in Switzerland, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, told reporters Monday in Geneva. The RSF has said it will attend.

A Sudanese government delegation met over the weekend with U.S. officials in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah in an attempt to have the military attend Wednesday, but no breakthrough was achieved.

“We’ve had extensive engagement with the SAF,” Perriello said of the Sudanese Armed Forces, “but they have not yet given us an affirmation, which would be necessary today for moving forward.”

The U.N., African Union, neighboring Egypt and the United Arab Emirates — which has been accused of supporting the RSF with weapons, a claim UAE officials have denied — are expected to attend the talks as observers.

“We have not given up hope that SAF will attend the talks,” Perriello said.

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Magdy reported from Cairo.