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Sudan's raging civil war could see 2 million starve to death. Aid agency says "the world is not watching"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sudan-civil-war-could-see-2-million-starve-to-death-aid-agency-world-is-not-watching/

An aid agency issued a "crisis alert" over war-torn Sudan, calling out the international community for its failure to address the civil war.

An aid agency issued a"crisis alert" Tuesday over war-torn Sudan, calling out the international community for its failure to address the civil war that has raged there for over a year.

The International Rescue Committee warned that a risk of famine is looming and said the lack of any political solution has left Sudan on the brink of a "catastrophe of historic scale."

"The world is not watching us, we are heading for famine, massive loss of life, and a failed state," the IRC's country director for Sudan, Eatizaz Yousif, told CBS News.

4 comments

slurpinderpin

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No college protests huh?

tal

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I mean, there's no clear solution in Sudan.

Both sides have interfered with food shipments. I haven't been reading up on this particular one, but in conflicts I've read about in the past in Africa, I know that seizing food has been a strategy in conflict -- everyone needs food, so control of food in a region short of it is power and wealth. Black Hawk Down's opening scene shows exactly that happening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wYeNRzZtAA

kagis

Yeah:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/29/sudan-slips-into-famine-as-warring-sides-starve-civilians

A UN source, who asked that their name be withheld due to the subject’s sensitivity, said both warring sides are posing obstacles, trying to prevent food from getting to areas controlled by their rival.

So you've got limited options.

One possibility is that the factions are gonna decide that this isn't a great strategy, like, preserving the value of the civilian populace is important enough not to dick with food. But I assume that they aren't unaware, and they've decided to go ahead with this. Sounds like the conflict's got an ethnic aspect too, and if factions would rather kill off the other ethnic group rather than just making them submit, you're probably gonna have a hard time convincing them not to do this.

This isn't gonna be a peacekeeping mission. Those don't deal with situations where one is in active opposition to one of the factions, but where both sides want there to not be conflict and just need a neutral party to act as enforcer of a peace agreement or something.

I don't think that you're going to have countries willing to enter into the civil war, force both sides to stop disrupting food.

I guess some people could flee the country, but it looks like only a small portion have so far -- I'd guess that neighboring counties aren't too happy about taking them. Looks like Egypt has the most, and it's less than 1% of the country's population, with Chad also being close. Sudan is super-poor; WP has them at 185 out of 194 GDP per capita, poorer than North Korea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugees_of_Sudan

Egypt

Starting in the 1990s, the increase in refugees from Sudan has forced UNHCR RO Cairo to shift its focus from education and training to the care and maintenance of refugees.[12] In Cairo, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is involved in helping process refugees for resettlement, moving refugees, and assisting with their medical examinations. IOM also conducts cultural orientation for the refugees to prepare them for resettlement in third countries.[12] The UNHCR regional office in Cairo (RO Cairo) is overextended, and after Somalis, the Sudanese (mainly southern Sudanese) represent the largest caseload.[13] A large number of Sudanese refugees in Egypt reflects the fact that many Sudanese travels to Cairo to obtain official recognition of their refugee status from the UNHCR. The Sudanese refugees in Egypt fall under two categories: those who are waiting for their status-determination interview and those who have been rejected or who are self-settled.[14] Between 60 and 70 percent of Sudanese asylum seekers have their applications for refugee status rejected.[14] Rejection and closure of a file have serious psychological and emotional implications for refugees. Many of those rejected, especially men, turn to alcoholism as a way of overcoming their problems. Others become mentally disturbed and there have been reports of suicide or attempted suicide upon receiving news of the rejection.[14] The unity of the family has been challenged by Sudanese refugees' quest for UNHCR recognition. Women and children wait in Cairo for their UNHCR applications to go through while husbands wait in Sudan.[14] The difficulties of life in Cairo and the inability of some husbands to join their families in Egypt have forced some women refugees to abandon their husbands, remarry, and leave for resettlement.[14] In cases of rejection of a family application at the UNHCR, many men leave their wives and children and look for another single woman with UNHCR status to avoid responsibility.[14] Additionally, UNHCR RO Cairo does not recognize polygamous unions, and as such will not refer polygamists for resettlement to countries where polygamy is not permitted.[14] All of these factors have contributed to the break-up of families, divorce, and the abandonment of children. Finally, the UNHCR identity cards issued to refugees are not always recognized by the Egyptian authority. There have been situations in which people have been taken and detained for three to four days and then released, despite their UNHCR status.[14] A resident permit stamp on a valid Sudanese passport seems to offer more protection for refugees.[14]

Or one side could win and the war end, but as far as I know, that's not expected to be imminent, and you can't just wait years for food.

kagis

https://www.chathamhouse.org/publications/the-world-today/2024-02/sudan-collapsing-heres-how-stop-it

The Sudanese civil war is brutal, devastating and shows no sign of coming to an end.

That article was from a couple months ago.

autotldr

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This is the best summary I could come up with:

Johannesburg - An aid agency issued a "crisis alert" Tuesday over war-torn Sudan, calling out the international community for its failure to address the civil war that has raged there for over a year.

"The world is not watching us, we are heading for famine, massive loss of life, and a failed state," the IRC's country director for Sudan, Eatizaz Yousif, told CBS News.

Sudan's army – which has been at war with the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary faction since April 2023 – has prevented a lot of the data collection that would be required for a famine declaration, charity workers in the country have told CBS News.

The worst-hit part of the country is the Darfur region, where international aid organizations have leveled allegations of genocide amid intense shelling in the city of El Fasher, which was once home to 3 million people.

The military has started encouraging young men to take up arms to fight alongside the regular army, with rumors suggesting the RSF is using forced conscription in the Darfur region to bolster its numbers.

There was hope over the last few weeks that pressure from the U.S. and other countries could help usher in a peace deal, but all lines seem to have gone quiet in spite of the regional and global security implications, Yousif said.

The original article contains 806 words, the summary contains 220 words. Saved 73%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

brttmardvo

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Zorsith

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And South Korea and sometimes Taiwan.