UN food agency warns Sudan unrest could cause regional crisis

The ongoing violence in Sudan could plunge the entire region of East Africa into a humanitarian crisis, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.

"A third of the country's population was starving even before the fighting broke out, now there is a shortage of everything and food prices are skyrocketing," Martin Frick, the director of the WFP in Germany, told dpa.

Similar price increases are also occurring in neighbouring Chad and South Sudan. Both countries have taken in thousands of refugees since the fighting began in Sudan two weeks ago.

"In South Sudan, which is facing flooding in some areas and droughts in others due to the climate crisis, food prices have risen by 28% in a very short time," said Frick.

To make matters worse is the tense situation in the Horn of Africa, where after six failed rainy seasons the pressure on food supplies is at a record high.

Sudan's de facto president Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been fighting his deputy Mohammed Hamdan Daglo with the help of the military since April 15. Daglo is the leader of the influential paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The two generals took over the leadership of the country of about 46 million through two military coups in 2019 and 2021.

Hundreds of people have been killed since the fighting began, and thousands are fleeing the country. Governments from across the world have launched evacuation missions to airlift their citizens to safety.

The WFP has had to suspend its support to 7.6 million people in the country as a result of the fighting.

According to Frick, refugees who have found shelter in Sudan, pregnant women or malnourished children would be left with nothing without the support of the WFP.

As soon as the security situation allows, the aid should be resumed, he said.