With much of the world's attention focused on Gaza, the scene of another human-made famine, Sudan is already the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and is slipping towards a disaster of historic proportions, with far less media coverage and global concern. A UN humanitarian appeal for the country has received only 16% of the funds it needs.
"We need the world to wake up to the catastrophe happening before our eyes," Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN, told reporters.
She was speaking as El Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur region and a former humanitarian hub, faced its second month under siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). A paramilitary group, the RSF has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023, when a power struggle between two rival generals, the SAF's Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the country's de facto ruler, and the RSF's Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, escalated into a conflict that has split the country. The civil war has killed over 14,000 people and forced 10 million to flee their homes.
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