A UN official on Saturday urged the Sudanese government to do more to end the humanitarian crisis in western Sudan, where a conflict has displaced about 1 million people and killed thousands.
James Morris, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program, also said more than US$140 million was needed to meet humanitarian needs in Darfur.
Morris and a UN team he headed on Friday ended a three-day tour of Darfur's crisis hit three states, where hundreds of thousands of people have been forced from homes by fighting between rebels into nearby cities, dry river beds and across the border into neighboring Chad.
"This is surely one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world," Morris said during a press conference in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. He is expected to submit a report of his findings to Sudanese authorities and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Morris said the situation in Darfur "will worsen dramatically" if security is not improved in the area and humanitarian agencies are not provided full access.
The US State Department said on Thursday a 28-member team of American aid experts would be granted visas by Sudan to enter the country and inspect humanitarian needs in Darfur, home to one-fifth of Sudan's 30 million people.
Thousands of people are believed to have died since early 2003 when the rebels took up arms to fight for autonomy and greater state aid in the neglected province. The conflict has also displaced about 900,000 refugees in Darfur's three states. Another 100,000 have fled into neighboring Chad.
During his Darfur tour, Morris met displaced Sudanese, regional and federal officials, non-governmental organizations, UN agencies and donors.
Darfur represents a "very serious humanitarian crisis, and that people hope to go home but they needed security and protection," Morris said. He added that the UN and various NGOs are ready to work with Sudanese authorities to address the situation.
"Sudan has to accelerate its efforts to address [and] control armed militias, provide security and protection for displaced people and facilitate humanitarian access,'' the UN team said in a statement issued at the end of its three-day tour.
Morris said displaced families were living in "difficult and unacceptable conditions and ... continue to fear for their lives." His team had also received numerous reports of sexual abuse and harassment.
In Mornei, a Darfur city close to Sudan's border with Chad, Morris said 60,000 displaced people have "overwhelmed" the city and are "almost completely reliant on outside assistance."
Health care in Mornei is "vastly over-stretched, living conditions are abysmal, malnutrition rates among children are soaring and few if any are going to school," he added.
"This pattern appears to be repeated across Darfur."
The UN statement said a humanitarian crisis continued despite the Sudanese government's signing of a ceasefire agreement on April 8 with rebels belonging to the Sudanese Liberation Army.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS