LONDON: Western nations including the UK, the US, Germany and France have urged both parties in war-torn Sudan to let in “urgently required” help to millions of citizens in dire need.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudan’s army under Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his ex-deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
Both parties have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilian population and blocking humanitarian help. In a joint statement, European and North American nations said that the two parties’ systematic obstruction of local and global humanitarian efforts is at the root of this starvation.
The nations asked for movement restrictions on the Adre border crossing from Chad, where the UN says it has trucks waiting, to be lifted.
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The countries also called for “all possible cross-border routes” to be opened “without obstruction,” which both warring parties earlier committed to.
“We denounce that, despite the overwhelming urgency, both sides persist in hindering the humanitarian response,” they stated in the declaration, inked by the European Commissioner for Crisis Management.
“An immediate and coordinated scale-up of help, together with safe, full, and unhindered humanitarian access to populations in need, is urgently needed to mitigate the large-scale loss of life,” they said.
The conflict in Sudan has left tens of thousands dead and forced over 11 million people to flee their houses, including about three million now in other nations, the UN said. Similarly, more than 26 million people face severe food shortage, with famine declared in in Sudan’s western Darfur region.
