Number of people dying from hunger rapidly growing in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains

The areas under control of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North under the leadership of Abdelaziz El Hilu (SPLM-N EL Hilu) in southern Sudan are witnessing widespread hunger, while the population in these areas has more than doubled since war broke out in the country more than 16 months ago. ‘The situation is alarming,’ civil society activist Ghandi Khalil told Radio Dabanga.

The SPLM-N El Hilu last month announced famine in the areas under its control in in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan and the New Funj area in Blue Nile state. About 20 per cent of the households in these areas suffers from food shortages and about 30 per cent of the children is malnourished.

According to SPLM-N estimates, the population of these areas increased from 1.2 million to about 3.9 million people as many sought refuge in these areas following the outbreak of the SAF-RSF war in April last year.

Last week, the rebel movement launched a broad campaign to draw the attention of local and international organisations to the dire humanitarian situation in the areas.

Ghandi Khalil of the Kamal Organisation for Development Initiatives described the living conditions in the SPLM-N areas as “critical” and attributed this to “the increasing number of displaced people affected by the war in the north”.

He told Radio Dabanga yesterday that the various organisations and institutions operating in the region since the renewed outbreak of the war between the SAF and the SPLM-N in June 2011, were providing services to about 1.2 million people. “The same health, education, water, and service provisions that barely covered the basic needs of 1.2 million people now have to be divided among more than three million people.

“The shortages of basic needs such as food, clean drinking water and shelter are causing problems between the people. Even agricultural and residential lands have now become the subject of dispute between the displaced and the residents”.

He further explained that “the war disrupted the cultivation of crops, while the people of the region depend on agriculture. The RSF are deployed in large areas near the Nuba Mountains and are keeping the main roads closed, causing serious shortages of fuel and seeds. They are wreaking havoc in the region, forcing farmers to stop cultivating their land.”

The lack of sufficient rainfall also contributed to the lack of food in sufficient quantities “even for the few who succeeded in cultivating their lands,” Khalil added.

“Famine has spread throughout the region in an alarming way. The hospitals are overcrowded with patients, most of whom suffer from diseases related to malnutrition, especially children, pregnant women and the elderly,” Khalil said. “Various reports confirm that in many areas of the Nuba Mountains region people are dying from hunger.”

He noted the decline in the Sudanese Pound rate against the US Dollar from SDG600 to SDG2,500 because of the war. “The deterioration of the Sudanese Pound has weakened the purchase power, especially since 80 per cent of the work force is currently unemployed after all factories and government institutions stopped working. Even remittances from expatriates have been disrupted due to the interruption of Internet networks.”

Khalil stressed that “the situation is now unprecedentedly critical and requires international intervention to stop the war and allow humanitarian organisations to aid people throughout Sudan. Especially in the Nuba Mountains, which are considered safe areas and have become a destination for displaced people from Darfur, North Kordofan, El Gezira, and Khartoum”.

The SPLM-N EL Hilu in February already warned of “extreme hunger” after the population in SPLM-N-controlled areas “surged to more than 3.5 million people following the influx of people fleeing Khartoum”.