The Guardian: Sudan Disaster is a War that the World Ignores

Sudan Events – Agencies

A Guardian editorial on Friday addressed the unfolding catastrophe in Sudan, which UNICEF’s Katie van der Heyden described during a meeting at the Munich Security Conference last week as “a crisis of the moment, and a crisis that has been completely ignored.”
The newspaper pointed out that even before the communications blackout in Sudan two weeks ago, only a small number of people had seen this war, which claimed the lives of thousands of people and displaced – more than any other current conflict – about 8 million people.
18 million people suffer from acute food insecurity, and about 3.8 million children suffer from malnutrition. In Zamzam camp in Darfur, a child dies every two hours. Widespread atrocities occurred, including massacres and sexual violence.
The newspaper pointed to the warning of Jan Egeland, Secretary-General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, that “ethnic cleansing” in Darfur – by the Rapid Support Forces RSF and the Arab militias allied with them – has forced nearly 700,000 people to flee.
Even now, while genocidal violence in the region became a global issue two decades ago, it barely registers now.
The Guardian drew attention to the International Crisis Group’s warning that what comes next in the civil war in Sudan may be an actual division, if not the disintegration of the state.
As Mr. Egeland pointed out, there is a stark and disgraceful disparity between the wealth of resources used to wage this war and the scarcity of resources capable of dealing with its consequences.
So far, the UN humanitarian response plan is less than 4% funded, with a shortfall of $2.6 billion.
The newspaper believes that despite the urgent need for more money, the real solution is to end this war.
Despite the contacts, with deputy generals reportedly meeting secretly last month, there is no sign of progress. The African Union AU has played only a minimal role in the talks, although it has now appointed a committee to look into peace efforts.
It added that the UN Security Council “does little except condemn attacks on civilians and call for humanitarian access,” aid agencies said this week.
The Guardian concluded that for the sake of Sudan and the region, the UN Security Council cannot continue to turn a blind eye, and the United States and other countries must also put pressure on the external parties that are fueling this fire to get them to move away.