Welthungerhilfe warns of humanitarian tragedy in Sudan
Welthungerhilfe Secretary General Mathias Mogge warns of a humanitarian tragedy and calls for humanitarian access to people in need.
Bonn/Berlin, 2023-04-20. Welthungerhilfe is greatly concerned about the escalation in violence in Sudan. The difficult situation faced by people there has further worsened with the heavy fighting. Many families have been trapped in their homes for six days, and their food and water supplies are running out. Fearing for their lives, people do not dare to go out on the streets. Before the outbreak of fighting, one in five people in the country were already facing food insecurity: a total of 9.6 million people. The situation is particularly dramatic in the western region of Darfur.
“Our colleagues in El Fasher report constant fighting. Families are running out of supplies and the water supply has collapsed, but leaving the home is now a deadly risk. Markets have also been burnt down, and supply lines from the capital Khartoum are blocked. Hunger must not be used as a weapon", says Mathias Mogge, Secretary General of Welthungerhilfe. “Targeting humanitarian aid workers is a clear violation of international law. There must be an immediate ceasefire to prevent an extension of the humanitarian disaster and further deaths. Access is needed now to provide people with the most urgent necessities, and to set up humanitarian corridors to allow them to safely escape from contested areas.”
The recurring violence and numerous conflicts have already displaced 3.7 million people in Sudan. According to the UN, 15.8 million people are reliant on humanitarian assistance—the highest figure since 2011. The country comes in 106th position out of 122 countries in the Global Hunger Index 2022: “Food insecurity in Sudan is already very high, due to drought, high prices, and declining livelihoods, resulting from many years of financial crisis and ongoing displacement. Now is the start of the “lean period” between harvests, when an increasing number of people can no longer get by without assistance. We must not abandon them”, says Matthias Mogge.
Welthungerhilfe has been working in Sudan since 1998. With around 200 local and international staff in Khartoum and in the federal states of North Darfur, Red Sea, Kassala, and Al Qadarif, it supported around 2.6 million people in 2022.
Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organisations in Germany and has no political or religious affiliations. It is fighting for “Zero Hunger by 2030”. Since its inception, it has provided funding of EUR 4.46 billion for more than 10,895 overseas projects in 70 countries. Welthungerhilfe operates according to the foundational principle of help for self-help, which it implements with measures ranging from rapid disaster relief to rehabilitation to long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organisations.
