GENEVA: The number of reported cholera cases is increasing in Darfur and more than 3,000 people across all of Sudan have died from the illness over the last 14 months of civil war, the UN health agency said Tuesday.
The current outbreak of the bacterial infection caused by contaminated food or water has spread to all 18 states in the war-torn country after erupting in Kassala state in July last year, the World Health Organization said.
Hala Khudari, its deputy representative in Sudan, said WHO has launched a vaccination campaign targeting 406,000 people in North Darfur State that comes “as cholera cases in Darfur continue to rise at an alarming rate – at an alarming fatality rate, to be specific.”
As of Sunday, some 12,739 cases and 358 deaths have been reported in more than half of Darfur localities, she said. The outbreak reached Darfur state in western Sudan in May.
“Reported cases in Darfur continue to increase amid severe access constraints that are impeding the required scale of response,” Khudari told reporters in Geneva by video from Port Sudan.
The conflict between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group erupted in April 2023 in Khartoum before spreading across the country. The civil war has killed at least 40,000 people and displaced as many as 12 million others, UN officials have said.
Both sides have been accused of committing atrocities like ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial killings and sexual violence against civilians, including children. Meanwhile, many people across Sudan have been pushed to the brink of famine.
The conflict and increased movements of people who have fled the fighting have limited access to basic services like clean water, food and health care.
Overall, more than 113,600 cases and over 3,000 deaths have been reported from across the country, reaching a fatality ratio of 2.7 percent, well above the 1 percent target threshold, Khudari said.
Darfur cholera cases rising at an ‘alarming’ rate as death toll in Sudan tops 3,000, says WHO
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Darfur cholera cases rising at an ‘alarming’ rate as death toll in Sudan tops 3,000, says WHO
- Hala Khudari, its deputy representative in Sudan, said WHO has launched a vaccination campaign targeting 406,000 people in North Darfur State
- As of Sunday, some 12,739 cases and 358 deaths have been reported
Arab, Muslim countries slam US ambassador’s remarks on Israel’s right to Middle East land
- The backlash widened sharply on Sunday as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat’s comments as “dangerous and inflammatory”
JERUSALEM: Arab and Islamic countries issued a joint condemnation on Sunday of remarks by US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, who suggested Israel had a biblical right to a vast swath of the Middle East.
Huckabee, a former Baptist minister and a fervent Israel supporter, was speaking on the podcast of far-right commentator and Israel critic Tucker Carlson.
In an episode released Friday, Carlson pushed Huckabee on the meaning of a biblical verse sometimes interpreted as saying that Israel is entitled to the land between the river Nile in Egypt and the Euphrates in Syria and Iraq.
In response, Huckabee said: “It would be fine if they took it all.”
When pressed, however, he continued that Israel was “not asking to take all of that,” adding: “It was somewhat of a hyperbolic statement.”
The backlash widened sharply on Sunday as more than a dozen Arab and Islamic governments — alongside three major regional organizations — issued a joint statement denouncing the US diplomat’s comments as “dangerous and inflammatory.”
The statement, released by the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry, was signed by the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria and the State of Palestine, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
They said the comments contravene the UN Charter and efforts to de-escalate the Gaza war and advance a political horizon for a comprehensive settlement.
Iran joined the chorus with its foreign ministry accusing Huckabee on X of revealing “American active complicity” in what it called Israel’s “expansionist wars of aggression” against Palestinians.
Earlier, several Arab states had issued unilateral condemnations.
Saudi Arabia described the ambassador’s words as “reckless” and “irresponsible,” while Jordan said it was “an assault on the sovereignty of the countries of the region.”
Kuwait decried what it called a “flagrant violation of the principles of international law,” while Oman said the comments “threatened the prospects for peace” and stability in the region.
Egypt’s foreign ministry reaffirmed “that Israel has no sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territory or any other Arab lands.”
The Palestinian Authority said on X that Huckabee’s words “contradict US President Donald Trump’s rejection of (Israel) annexing the West Bank.”
On Saturday, Huckabee published two posts on X further clarifying his position on other topics touched upon in the interview, but did not address his remark about the biblical verse.
The speaker of the Israeli parliament, Amir Ohana, praised Huckabee on X for his general pro-Israel stance in the interview, and accused Carlson of “falsehoods and manipulations.”
Carlson has recently found himself facing accusations of antisemitism, particularly following a lengthy, uncritical interview with self-described white nationalist Nick Fuentes — a figure who has praised Hitler, denied the Holocaust and branded American Jews as disloyal.
