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.



Officials: US Will Remove Gaza Aid Pier and May Not Put it Back

A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
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Officials: US Will Remove Gaza Aid Pier and May Not Put it Back

A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

The pier built by the US military to bring aid to Gaza has been removed due to weather to protect it, and the US is considering not re-installing it unless the aid begins flowing out into the population again, several US officials said Friday.

While the military has helped deliver desperately needed food through the pier, the vast majority of it is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard because of the difficulty that agencies have had moving it to areas in Gaza where it is most needed, and that storage area is almost full.

The pier has been used to get more than 19.4 million pounds, or 8.6 million kilograms, of food into Gaza but has faced multiple setbacks. Rough seas damaged the pier just days into its initial operations, forcing the military to remove it temporarily for repairs and then reinstall it.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the military could reinstall the pier once the bad weather passes in the coming days, but the final decision on whether to reinstall it hasn’t been made.

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, acknowledged that she doesn't know when the pier will be reinstalled.

She also said Friday that there is a need for more aid to come into Cyprus and be transported to the pier. She noted that the secure area onshore is “pretty close to full,” but that the intention is still to get aid into Gaza by all means necessary. She said the US is having discussions with the aid agencies about the distribution of the food.

The big challenge has been that humanitarian convoys have stopped carrying the aid from the pier’s storage area further into Gaza, to get it into civilian hands, because they have come under attack.

The UN, which has the widest reach in delivering aid to starving Palestinians, on June 9 paused the distribution of food and other emergency supplies that had arrived through the pier. The pause came after the Israeli military used an area near the pier to fly out rescued hostages after a raid that killed more than 270 Palestinians, prompting a UN security review over concerns that aid workers’ safety and neutrality may have compromised.