Khartoum - New York: Europe and the Arabs
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that the deadly combination of hunger, displacement and disease outbreaks creates a perfect storm for catastrophic loss of life in Sudan. According to the UN daily news bulletin, which we received a copy of this Friday morning,
In the latest update issued by the office yesterday, Thursday, it stated that the World Food Program is working around the clock to reach 8.4 million people by the end of the year to overcome hunger in the country, noting that the program has helped more than five million people in 2024 so far, including 1.2 million in the Darfur region.
This comes at a time when UNICEF continues to transport life-saving nutrition supplies sufficient to treat about 215,000 children suffering from severe malnutrition in Sudan. UNICEF and its partners have provided about 6.6 million children in Sudan and their families with safe drinking water this year, at a time when disease outbreaks, including cholera, are worsening.
Refugee Support
The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs explained that children make up about half of the more than 10 million people who have fled their homes since the outbreak of conflict in Sudan last year. Two million of these displaced people have crossed into neighboring countries, where the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is providing urgent support.
The office reported that the refugee agency is providing basic protection services and helping to move the huge numbers of new arrivals away from border areas to safer places in countries of asylum, warning that these efforts are severely hampered by lack of funding, floods and insecurity.
This year’s $1.5 billion plan to support the regional refugee response in seven neighboring countries has been funded by less than a quarter of the amount, with only $347 million raised.
Meanwhile, the response inside Sudan has been funded by less than half, with the Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024 receiving only $1.3 billion out of the $2.7 billion needed to reach about 14.7 million people in the country by the end of the year.
Adre Crossing

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at the daily press briefing held at the organization’s headquarters in New York yesterday, Thursday, that more than 113 aid trucks have entered Sudan from Chad through the Adre crossing since it was reopened by the Sudanese authorities last month.

He added that five more trucks crossed the crossing on Wednesday, adding that supplies through Adre have crossed to more than 250,000 people in Sudan, including food, nutrition, shelter, medical supplies and other urgently needed items.

Meeting on the Crisis
In a separate development, Dujarric indicated that next Wednesday (September 25), there will be a high-level ministerial event on the escalating crisis in Sudan and the region.
He explained that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees are hosting this event along with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the European Union and the African Union.