Humanitarian Aid in Sudan
As the fighting in Sudan continues, there has been an intense strain on resources, leading to increasing inflation on basic necessities such as food, fuel, and transport. The power struggle between RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, and the army leader General Abdel-Fattah al-Burhan continues to severely deteriorate the aid situation. Health facilities and humanitarian warehouses have become targets for fighters to destroy and loot; it's been reported 28 health facilities have been destroyed so far and three humanitarian warehouses have been looted. The ability for foreign aid to be distributed in Sudan has also been difficult surrounding the intense fighting between the two groups, and threats towards aid workers have slowed down the process. The main aim to improve the aid situation in Sudan is to firstly achieve a ceasefire which both sides adhere to: so far these attempts have failed. However, there is hope with both the RSF and Sudanese Army agreeing to a deal ensuring the protection of civilians who are leaving the fighting zones, protecting aid workers, and not to involve innocent civilians in combat for defence.
The aid situation has increased focus heavily to Sudan's neighbouring countries due to the mass influx of refugees. Monitoring these refugees has gotten more difficult. Since the start of May the number of internally displaced persons has doubled, with the number currently at 736,223 internally displaced people. Sudan’s already strained neighbours have faced a large influx of people within a short amount of time. The main point of entry for Sudanese is the Wounthou-Junta border to South Sudan, aid workers have focused a majority of their help to South Sudan and other neighbouring countries. South Sudan has so far received 13 metric tons of relief items but are further appealing for US $96 million dollars in order to support the further expected mass of Sudanese refugees. As the international community turned to aid those fleeing Sudan, those left behind have felt ignored by the international community, a Sudanese diaspora medic reiterated this point: “I feel the people of Sudan are betrayed by the international community, we are facing this crisis on our own.”
Source: UNHCR
What makes this aid situation different to the prior humanitarian situation in Sudan? It's important to highlight the geographical scale of the conflict. Prior wars in Sudan have been fought in the peripheries, now large scales of fighting are happening in major urban areas, for example the number of air strikes in Sudan’s capital Khartoum, a place once hosting foreigners, diplomats and aid workers. This presents new challenges to aid workers, resulting in the movement of humanitarian work to new areas as internally displaced people are fleeing to Port Sudan, Dongola, Atbara, and Wad Madani. These places are home to those considered ‘elites’ within Sudan hence are not on the map of areas in need of humanitarian aid prior to the conflict.
The EU has opened a humanitarian aid bridge from Port Sudan in order to improve the efficiency of the transport of aid to conflict areas. However, the distance from Port Sudan to another town facing the effects of the fighting, El Geneina, is far, spanning the distance from London to Warsaw. As the conflict continues to rapidly escalate and degrade the humanitarian situation, empowering local aid workers and decentralizing the humanitarian response is key to helping those trapped in the midst of the conflict. This stresses how important the concept of localisation is for the conflict, it has become increasingly important for local aid workers to increase their role.
The continued failure of both sides of the conflict to adhere to a ceasefire has made the aid situation in Sudan dire. As people flee fighting, the aid situation poses a greater threat for the region as neighbouring countries already face their own domestic humanitarian issues. The UN and its partner organisations on May 4th appealed for $445 million dollars in order to help Sudanese caught in the conflict through October of this year. However, the UN Humanitarian Affairs Office claims there is still a $1.5 billion dollar funding gap. The large flux of people fleeing the conflict has only complicated the aid situation, those feeling have left to areas in Sudan that were not prior on the humanitarian map, this has stressed the importance of the localisation of aid work. While international aid remains ever important, the mass scale of the conflict means localising the response and having the right framework to facilitate this.