NEW YORK CITY: With Sudan midway through the third year of a civil war, four major UN agencies issued an urgent appeal on Friday for a scaled-up humanitarian response in the country, where millions of people continue to face hunger, displacement and the collapse of essential services.
Speaking during a joint virtual briefing, the International Organization for Migration’s deputy director general for operations, Ugochi Daniels, said the situation was now “the world’s worst displacement crisis.”
More than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, she added, and her organization has registered 9.6 million internally displaced persons and 4.3 million people displaced across borders.
Daniels said 2.6 million people who fled to other countries have now returned to Sudan. They include 1 million in Khartoum alone, 94 percent of whom originally came from other parts of the country.
She called for the immediate restoration of key infrastructure and public services, and direct support for vulnerable returnees, host communities and internally displaced persons.
“Humanitarian, development and peace actors must work together,” she said, echoing a call by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for the “immediate cessation of hostilities, the protection of civilians, unhindered humanitarian access and simplified procedures for aid delivery.”
Kelly Clements, the deputy high commissioner of UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency, described the devastation and trauma she witnessed and heard about during recent visits to Port Sudan and Khartoum.
“We heard horrific stories of rights violations, the fear, the utter destruction of infrastructure and services … but also the resilience of the people,” she said.
Since the conflict between rival military factions began in April 2023, about 12 million people have been forced to flee their homes for other parts of Sudan or across borders, Clements noted, which is equivalent to about one in three of the population.
“Their biggest concerns are basic services that aren’t available … they are worried about their security,” she said.
Clements also highlighted Sudan’s continuing generosity, saying: “Despite the war and the challenging context, Sudan continues to host nearly 900,000 refugees and asylum-seekers.”
Ted Chaiban, the UN Children’s Fund’s deputy executive director for humanitarian action and supply operations, said the toll of the crisis is heaviest on youngsters.
“What I saw was alarming,” he said. “Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, the conflict is escalating, and children are paying the highest price every day.”
About 1.4 million children are in areas where there is the risk of famine or famine is already present, he added. In North Darfur alone, 150,000 children are likely to suffer severe acute malnutrition this year.
In addition, 14 million children are out of school, Chaiban said, which is “four out of every five children in Sudan,” and at least 350 cases of grave violations against children, including killing and maiming, have been verified in North Darfur in the past six months alone.
The World Food Programme’s assistant executive director, Valerie Guarnieri, highlighted the operational challenges the organization faces in its attempts to reach those most in need, even as it expands its reach.
She said that in September alone, it reached 1.8 million people in famine-risk areas, covering more than 85 percent of the assessed population, up from less than 20 percent previously.
“Humanitarian access remains a critical issue, … in Al-Fasher, El-Dugli and Dilling it remains severely constrained,” she said.
The four agencies together called for urgent and sustained international support for their work in Sudan — including funding, improved humanitarian access, and renewed peace efforts — to enable them to deliver full humanitarian and development responses.
UN agencies warn of escalating catastrophe in Sudan as millions face hunger and displacement
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UN agencies warn of escalating catastrophe in Sudan as millions face hunger and displacement
- Organizations make urgent appeal for increased humanitarian response in country experiencing ‘world’s worst displacement crisis,’ where more than 30m people need aid
- The crisis is particularly tough on children: 1.4m experiencing or at risk of famine, 150,000 likely to suffer severe acute malnutrition this year in North Darfur alone
Iranian strikes kill two in UAE, injure eight in Qatar as regional conflict escalates
- UAE defense ministry said Iran fired 137 missiles and 209 drones at the territory
- Qatar intercepted most of the 65 missiles and 12 drones launched by Iran, said officials
ABU DHABI: Explosions rocked cities across the Gulf on Saturday, killing two people in Abu Dhabi, while smoke and flames rose from Dubai landmark The Palm as Iran launched waves of attacks in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes.
The attacks hit airports in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait, as well as Gulf military bases and residential areas, raising fears of a wider conflict and rattling a region long seen as a haven of peace and security.
Across the UAE, Iran fired 137 missiles and 209 drones at the territory, the country’s defense ministry said, as projectiles streaked across the skies of every Gulf state but Oman, a mediator in the recent US-Iran talks.
The UAE defense ministry said most of the missiles and drones were intercepted but at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport officials said at least one person was killed and seven wounded in an “incident.”
Earlier, falling debris killed a Pakistani civilian in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates’ capital, officials said.
At Dubai International Airport four people were injured according to airport authorities and four others were also hurt at the luxury Palm development.
In Qatar, officials said Iran launched 65 missiles and 12 drones toward the Gulf state, most of which were intercepted, but eight people were injured in the salvos, with one of them in critical condition.
“We are scared of what the future is for us now, and we can’t say how the next few days are going to be,” Maha Manbaz, a nursing student in Doha told AFP.
Terrified’
Smoke poured from US bases in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain’s capital Manama, home of the American navy’s Fifth Fleet, witnesses saw.
A drone struck Kuwait’s international airport and a base housing US personnel was targeted. Three Kuwaiti soldiers and 12 other people were wounded, authorities said.
After Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reported missile strikes, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on X that no American naval vessels were hit, damage to US facilities was minimal, and no US casualties had been reported.
Residential buildings were also targeted in Manama, with officials saying firefighters and civil defense teams had been dispatched to the scene.
“The sound of the first explosion terrified me,” said a 50-year-old retiree living near the US base in Manama’s Juffair area, where residents were quickly evacuated.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar warned they reserved the right to respond to the attacks.
The oil-and-gas-rich Arab monarchies, lying just across the Gulf from Iran, are long-term American allies and host a clutch of US military bases.
“The Gulf states are sandwiched between Iran and Israel, and have to bear the worst inclinations of both,” said Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor at Kuwait University.
“Iran’s attacks on the Gulf are misplaced. They’ll only alienate its neighbors and invite further distancing from Iran,” he added.
Conflict is unusual in the Gulf, which has traded on its reputation for stability to become the Middle East’s commercial and diplomatic hub.
‘Significant damage’
The unprecedented barrage targeted Qatar’s Al Udeid base, the region’s biggest US military base, as well as Riyadh and eastern Saudi Arabia.
The UAE, Qatar and Kuwait all announced that their airspace was closed.
An AFP journalist in Qatar saw one missile destroyed in a puff of white smoke, while another in Dubai saw a volley of Patriot interceptors taking off.
Iran fired missiles at Al Udeid last June after US strikes targeted Iranian nuclear facilities during a brief war with Israel.
The escalation also saw Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed speak for the first time since a public row in late December.
The Saudi de facto ruler called the Emirati president and the pair discussed Iran’s retaliatory strikes on the Gulf and expressed solidarity and sympathy.
In Kuwait, an Iranian missile attack caused “significant damage” to the runway at an air base hosting Italian air force personnel, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was quoted by the ANSA news agency as saying.
Late on Saturday, Kuwaiti officials said a drone targeted a naval base there with air defense forces intercepting the projectile, according to a post by the defense ministry on X.
For many residents in the Gulf, which has drawn a cosmopolitan, largely expat population, the reaction was one of shock.
“I heard the explosions, I don’t know what I felt,” a Lebanese woman living in Riyadh told AFP.
“We came to the Gulf because it’s known to be safer than Lebanon. Now I don’t know what to do or how to think really.”
