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Western governments are exaggerating reports of famine and starvation in Sudan, says Russia

January 23, 2025 at 3:40 pm

A child and a man wait to collect food at a location set up by a local humanitarian organisation to donate meals and medication to people displaced by the war in Sudan, in Meroe in the country’s Northern State, on January 9, 2025 [-/AFP via Getty Images]

The startling claim earlier this month by Russia that Western governments are using reports of famine and starvation to undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity was greeted with scepticism and rejected by members of the United Nations (UN) Security Council, including the US. Speaking in the UN Security Council, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, questioned the Famine Review Committee’s (FRC) credibility and the accuracy of its 2024 report on Sudan.

“Let us emphasise right away that Sudan is not experiencing nor can experience a severe famine. Upon examining the FRC report we could not but think that the issue of hunger in Sudan is being politicised and exploited to exert pressure on the Sudanese government. We have an impression that someone is desperate for famine to eventually begin in Sudan,” Polyanskiy said. Hunger, he asserted, was one of the issues exploited by the West for political gains.

However, media reports argue that Russia’s claims are misleading and further exacerbate the situation. In November 2024, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution on Sudan presented by the UK. The resolution called for: “A comprehensive, nationwide ceasefire; for increased protection of civilians; and for unhindered flow of humanitarian aid into and across Sudan.” The 2024 FRC report said at least five areas of Sudan were suffering from famine. It further projected hunger levels would spread in five additional areas between December 2024 and May 2025.

Those projections are based on the valid and reasonable assumptions that food shortages would remain in areas encircled by the rebel Rapid Support Forces (RSF). However, the projections do not take into account the changes in food supply and changes as a result of territorial gains in the fighting. Recent victories by the Sudan Armed Forces in Sennar, Medani and local agreements in southern Khartoum have resulted in convoys of aid being trucked into the affected areas.

READ: UN estimates 3.2m Sudanese children under 5 will face acute malnutrition in 2025

Last month, 22 trucks were delivered to the besieged southern districts of Khartoum. The convoy, sponsored by the World Food Programme, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Médecins Sans Frontières, delivered approximately 750 tonnes of much-needed food and medical supplies. “Access to the area has been essentially cut off due to the conflict dynamics. It took three months of often daily negotiations with government authorities at all levels and with other parties who controlled the access. The trucks were detained on more than one occasion and drivers were understandably reluctant given the risks involved,” explained Sheldon Yett, UNICEF’s Sudan representative.

Such rare moments of agreement between both warring parties facilitated the convoy’s passage through their respective areas of control. Southern Khartoum has been under RSF control since the early days of the conflict. However, prior to the aid convoy a year early, Sudanese authorities suspended participation in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system. In a letter to the IPC and its Famine Review Committee, December 2023: “Sudan is withdrawing from the IPC system because the IPC is issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and dignity,” clarified Agriculture Minister Abu Baker Al-Beshri.

Those unreliable reports appear not to be exclusive to Sudan. Reuters has reported that authorities in Myanmar, Yemen and Ethiopia have also rejected the IPC’s findings and have since ceased working with the IPC. The famine in Sudan has reached catastrophic levels. Globally, Sudanese account for ten per cent of all people in humanitarian need despite being less than one per cent of the global population, according to the New York-based International Rescue Committee aid organisation. The organisation says that a total of 30.4 million people across Sudan are in humanitarian need, making it: “The largest humanitarian crisis since records began.”

In Sudan’s largest internally displaced person (IDP) camp, Zamzam in North Darfur, more than 400,000 people have been affected by food shortages. Famine has also reached emergency levels in other IDP camps, in particular, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam in North Darfur and the Western Nuba Mountains. In these camps, child mortality rates are being estimated at nearly 12 per day due to famine. Statistically, the highest rates of hunger and death from malnutrition are taking place in RSF-controlled areas, whether in Darfur, in the formerly occupied Al-Jazira state or the capital.

In spite of having a “good” rainy season, many displaced farming communities were unable to farm. RSF offensive attacks in the most productive agricultural states, such as Al-Jazira, intentionally targeted croplands for destruction and the looting of farm equipment. Much of the looted equipment, tractors, and other large farm vehicles have reportedly been resold in markets across the Sahel, as non-profit policy research organisation the Center for Strategic and International Studies reported.

Critics of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) decry bureaucratic obstacles that inhibit delivery of aid. Customs inspections, internal travel documents and visas for international humanitarian staff have, at times, obstructed deliveries of aid. To facilitate humanitarian aid delivery is the Adré crossing between Sudan and Chad, which was reopened by an SAF military in August 2024. The territory surrounding the border crossing is under RSF control. However, the UN does not recognise the RSF as the sovereign authority, which is a requirement to undertake cross-border aid operations. Since October, a number of aid trucks in North Kordofan state have been unable to deliver their cargo. The trucks are in an area the SAF controls but are surrounded by RSF. The convoy cannot leave until safe passage is guaranteed through some form of taxation.

However, getting supplies into affected areas remains a complex operation fraught with danger. On the one hand, exaggerations and false predictions open up the likelihood for supporters of intervention, allowing Sudan sovereignty to be wrestled away from the Sudan government. While on the other hand, not responding in a timely fashion to the needs of the Sudanese people sadly could increase the death toll and suffering in the gruelling 18-month war.

READ: Global food monitor says famine has taken hold in Sudan’s Darfur

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.