UN Has Got Only 12% of Funds Sought for War-wracked Sudan

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
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UN Has Got Only 12% of Funds Sought for War-wracked Sudan

FILE PHOTO: Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sudanese refugees who fled the violence in Sudan's Darfur region and newly arrived ride their donkeys looking for space to temporarily settle, near the border between Sudan and Chad in Goungour, Chad May 8, 2023. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo

The United Nations warned on Friday that it had only received 12 percent of the $2.7 billion being sought for war-wracked Sudan, adding that "famine is closing in".

Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in Sudan since war broke out in April 2023 between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The United Nations says more than 1.4 million people have fled the country.

"It is a catastrophically underfunded appeal," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) told reporters.

"Without more resources coming in fast, humanitarian organisations won’t be able to scale up in time to stave off famine and prevent further deprivation," he said, AFP reported.

"In Sudan, half of the population, 25 million people, need humanitarian aid. Famine is closing in. Diseases are closing in. The fighting is closing in on civilians, especially in Darfur."

The United Nations has expressed growing concern in recent days over reports of heavy fighting in densely populated areas as the RSF seeks control of El-Fasher, the last major city in the western Darfur region not under its control.

"Now is the time for donors to make good on pledges made, step up and help us help Sudan and be part of changing the current trajectory that's leading toward the cliff's edge. Don't be missing in action," he said.

Shible Sahbani, the UN's World Health Organization representative in Sudan, said: "Thirteen months of war in Sudan, nine million people displaced which represent around 17 percent of the population and the largest internal displacement crisis in the world today.

"This conflict has... nearly destroyed the health system which is almost collapsed now. Close to 16,000 people have died due to this war, 33,000 have been injured," she said, speaking from Port Sudan.

Sahbani said the real toll was "probably much higher".

The RSF and Sudan's armed forces are seen as both wanting to secure a battleground victory and each side has received support from outside players.

The UN human rights chief Volker Turk this week separately spoke to Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, president of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, and General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, Commander of the Rapid Support Forces.

"He urged them both to act immediately – and publicly – to de-escalate the situation," UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.



US Military Shows Reporters Pier Project in Gaza as It Takes Another Stab at Aid Delivery 

An American boat carrying American soldiers and journalist sails near the Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
An American boat carrying American soldiers and journalist sails near the Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
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US Military Shows Reporters Pier Project in Gaza as It Takes Another Stab at Aid Delivery 

An American boat carrying American soldiers and journalist sails near the Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)
An American boat carrying American soldiers and journalist sails near the Trident Pier, a temporary pier to deliver aid, off the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, near the Gaza coast, June 25, 2024. (Reuters)

With US soldiers within shouting distance of Gaza's bombed-out coast, the American military is taking another stab at delivering aid to hungry Palestinians by sea.

After several fits and starts, a $230 million pier is up and running again. The US military invited reporters for a tour of it on Tuesday, marking the first time international media has witnessed its operations firsthand.

International journalists have not been allowed to enter Gaza independently since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7.

The project, which first launched in mid-May, resumed operations last week after a recent pause due to rough seas.

As journalists looked on Tuesday, US soldiers with machine guns directed the pier's operations. US vessels carrying trucks loaded with humanitarian aid docked at the pier.

Israeli and Cypriot drivers drove the trucks off the vessels and headed down the 400-meter (437-yard) causeway to the beach, where they unloaded pallets of aid.

The trucks then returned to the vessels to be ferried to large cargo ships and reloaded. The cargo ships travel across the Mediterranean Sea from Cyprus.

Col. Samuel Miller, the commander of a joint task force, US Army 7th Transportation Brigade, said the vessels can ferry aid to the pier at least five times a day.

“Our mission out here is to receive those humanitarian assistance pallets offshore from a larger vessel onto that floating pier,” he said, shouting over waves crashing against the pier. “Over time, we are learning organization and we've gotten better.”

The floating pier was anchored back on Gaza’s shoreline on June 19 after heavy seas and high winds led the military to disconnect it from the beach. In May, similar conditions forced a two-week pause in operations after the pier broke apart and four US Army vessels ran aground, injuring three service members, one critically.

Since coming back online, the pier has been delivering hundreds of pallets of aid a day to the shore, Miller said.

From the pier, Associated Press journalists could see aid piling up against a backdrop of near-total destruction. Israeli army vehicles slowly moved between blown-out buildings along the coast. Tents stood on beaches in the distance.

The US military said about 6,200 metric tons (6,800 tons) of aid have so far been delivered from the project to Gaza’s shore.

While aid from the pier is reaching the beach, it's still difficult to get it to Palestinians in Gaza. The UN World Food Program has suspended aid delivery from the pier due to security concerns after the Israeli military appeared to use the area in a June 8 hostage rescue. Lawlessness around the pier, with hungry Palestinians seizing aid off trucks headed to delivery zones, also is a major concern.

The US launched the project to bring relief to Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive against Hamas has displaced over 80% of the territory’s 2.3 million people and unleashed a humanitarian disaster. International officials say hundreds of thousands of people are on the brink of famine.

UN and other international aid officials have voiced skepticism over the pier, saying its effectiveness is limited and it is no substitute for Israeli-controlled land crossings into the territory.

UN officials told the AP on Tuesday that they are considering suspending all aid operations across Gaza unless steps are taken to better protect humanitarian workers. That would plunge Gaza into an even deeper humanitarian catastrophe.

Palestinians in Gaza are heavily reliant on UN aid, which has only trickled into the territory since Israel's incursion in early May into Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city, shut down a major land crossing and slowed deliveries from another major crossing.

Still, the soldiers operating the pier Tuesday were hopeful.

“I talk to my sailors on a daily basis,” said US Navy Capt. Joel Stewart. “They understand that our aid is necessary for the people of Gaza that are suffering under the conditions of war.”