Soaring Hunger in Sudan as Nearly 4 Million Displaced, Says UN

This picture taken on June 20, 2023, shows a charity kitchen providing food for the displaced at a camp in Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan's al-Jazirah state. (Photo by AFP)
This picture taken on June 20, 2023, shows a charity kitchen providing food for the displaced at a camp in Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan's al-Jazirah state. (Photo by AFP)
TT
20

Soaring Hunger in Sudan as Nearly 4 Million Displaced, Says UN

This picture taken on June 20, 2023, shows a charity kitchen providing food for the displaced at a camp in Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan's al-Jazirah state. (Photo by AFP)
This picture taken on June 20, 2023, shows a charity kitchen providing food for the displaced at a camp in Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan's al-Jazirah state. (Photo by AFP)

The UN sounded the alarm Wednesday of impending famine in Sudan, where months of war have hit food supplies and pushed nearly four million people to flee the fighting.

"Over 20.3 million people, representing more than 42 percent of the population in the country, are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity," the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization announced.

Half that number was already highly food insecure last year, before war broke out between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In a new escalation of an already disastrous humanitarian situation, "6.3 million people are one step away from famine", the UN warned on Wednesday.

According to AFP, the fighting has destroyed critical infrastructure, severely hampered agriculture and blocked the delivery of crucial aid.

More than half of the population is "facing acute hunger" in West Darfur, which has seen some of the worst clashes, including civilians targeted for their ethnicity and mass sexual violence.

The latest figures from the International Organization for Migration show that more than three million people have been internally displaced, with almost a million more fleeing across Sudan's borders.

The IOM figures show that upwards of two million people have fled Khartoum alone -- 40 percent of its estimated pre-war population.

For months civilians have been pleading for a reprieve from the ceaseless air strikes, artillery battles and gunfire that have turned cities including the capital into war zones.

No humanitarian corridors have materialised despite promises from the warring parties, preventing aid groups from delivering increasingly life-saving assistance.

Deadly urban battles continued in the war-torn capital on Wednesday, with an army spokesman announcing in a televised address that "dozens from the rebel militia" had been "killed and wounded" in an air strike in southern Khartoum.

The RSF, which has positioned itself as the saviour of democracy even as it is accused of atrocities, again accused the army of "conspiring" with the former regime of Omar al-Bashir.

Longtime autocrat Bashir was ousted in 2019 after popular protests. The fragile transition to civilian rule that followed was derailed by a 2021 coup led by Burhan, with Daglo as his number two.

When the two generals fell out in a bitter feud, Daglo accused Burhan's government of starting the war in order to usher Bashir's banned National Congress Party (NCP) back into power.

An RSF statement Wednesday said the army was "covering up" NCP officials' activities across the country, particularly in eastern Sudan, and warned against "civil war".

It accused the army of protecting members of the old guard who had escaped from prison early in the war, "with the express goal of again seizing the mantle of power in our country".



Anxiety Rises in DR Congo Capital as M23 Rebels Advance in East 

Residents venture out onto the streets following clashes at Kadutu Market in Bukavu on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Residents venture out onto the streets following clashes at Kadutu Market in Bukavu on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

Anxiety Rises in DR Congo Capital as M23 Rebels Advance in East 

Residents venture out onto the streets following clashes at Kadutu Market in Bukavu on February 18, 2025. (AFP)
Residents venture out onto the streets following clashes at Kadutu Market in Bukavu on February 18, 2025. (AFP)

As Rwanda-backed rebels strolled through the streets of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's second-largest city, President Felix Tshisekedi's office claimed it was actually still controlled by his army and "valiant" allied forces.

It was the latest jarring move from the 61-year-old leader that has fueled a sense of worry and panic 1,600 km (1,000 miles) away in the capital Kinshasa, where some residents are looking to move their families abroad amid open talk of a coup.

"There was never any question of fighting in Bukavu. It was clear to all the people on the ground that the Rwandans and their auxiliaries were going to make their entry," said one army general who expressed bafflement at a statement issued by the president's office on Sunday.

Tshisekedi, he added, "doesn't have the right sources."

Anxiety is visible on the streets of Kinshasa as the army puts up limited resistance against the M23 group's advance and residents question whether Tshisekedi grasps the risk it poses.

Embassies have begun using armored vehicles for trips to the airport and sending some staff across the Congo River to Brazzaville, capital of Republic of Congo.

Three Kinshasa-based government officials told Reuters they were making arrangements to get their families out of the country.

Banker Matondo Arnold said he had already sent his family to Brazzaville after the rebels seized Goma, eastern Congo's biggest city, in late January. "We never imagined Goma could fall," he said.

As talk about a possible coup spread, Justice Minister Constant Mutamba said on X that Congolese "will not accept any coup that involves the Rwandan army to destabilize the country's institutions."

But even a member of Tshisekedi's Sacred Union coalition said the anxiety was unmistakable.

"Oh yes, it's panic. Some people are desperate and they are courting embassies" in search of an exit.

SUMMIT SNUB

This M23 advance is the gravest escalation in more than a decade of the long-running conflict in eastern Congo, rooted in the spillover of Rwanda's 1994 genocide into Congo and the struggle for control of Congo's vast minerals resources.

Rwanda rejects allegations from Congo, the United Nations and Western powers that it supports M23 with arms and troops. It says it is defending itself against the threat from a Hutu militia, which it says is fighting with the Congolese military.

As the hunt for a diplomatic resolution stalls, with Tshisekedi refusing to negotiate with the rebels, his camp faults the international community for failing to stand up to Rwanda by imposing sanctions.

"It's not a bad thing to refuse dialogue with an armed group like M23. The M23 is Rwanda," said a lawmaker close to the president. "Why doesn't the West do anything?"

Tshisekedi has skipped two African-organized meetings this month addressing the fighting - a joint summit in Dar es Salaam of Southern and Eastern African leaders and the annual African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

Instead, he travelled to the Munich Security Conference where he accused his predecessor Joseph Kabila of sponsoring M23's military campaign, which Kabila's camp denied.

The decision by Tshisekedi, who spent much of his life in Brussels, to fly to Europe drew derision from the Congolese political establishment.

"The fact that an African president snubs the African Union summit and prefers instead a security conference in Europe is indicative of who sustains him," said one former senior official.

Some members of Congo's fractious opposition are openly predicting Tshisekedi will not last.

"His lack of legitimacy is now proven, making him less and less listened to and more and more rejected by the population every day," said Olivier Kamitatu, a Kabila-era minister and spokesperson for opposition politician Moise Katumbi.

"Tshisekedi did not understand the issues of the country and the region. He did not have enough intellectual heft to lead Congo," said Martin Fayulu, who came in second in the 2018 election that brought Tshisekedi to power.

But it is unclear who could pose the most legitimate challenge to Tshisekedi, said Congolese analyst Bob Kabamba of the University of Liege in Belgium.

"With the capture of Goma and Bukavu, no one is sure of Tshisekedi's ability to control the security and political situation," he said.