“We have the biggest humanitarian crisis on the planet in Sudan,” NRC declares

Sudan is teetering on the brink of famine, largely overlooked by global leaders, while humanitarian aid only postpones inevitable deaths.

Jan Egeland, Chief of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), gave the warning in an interview with AFP on Saturday.

“We have the biggest humanitarian crisis on the planet in Sudan… and the world is giving it a shrug,” Egeland said, speaking from Chad after a recent visit to Sudan.

Since April 2023, Sudan has been ravaged by conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), leaving tens of thousands dead and displacing over 11 million people. Nearly 26 million Sudanese are enduring acute hunger, according to UN estimates.

Egeland painted a grim picture: women surviving on boiled leaves and 1.5 million people teetering on the edge of famine.

“The violence is tearing apart communities much faster than we can come in with aid,” he lamented, adding that existing resources are merely “delaying deaths instead of preventing them.”

Darfur, once a focal point of international outrage, now endures worse conditions with far less global attention. Egeland blamed the shift in priorities on Western governments’ inward-focused agendas and ongoing conflicts elsewhere, such as in Gaza and Ukraine.

In Darfur, ethnic cleansing has pushed displaced populations to consider perilous migration to Europe. Camps like Zamzam face famine amid relentless sieges, while Port Sudan’s displaced endure starvation despite its accessibility.

Egeland called on the world to act, warning that today’s neglect will yield tomorrow’s migrant crises. “Short-sighted” policies, he cautioned, will haunt those who ignore Sudan’s suffering.