Jenan Taylor
29 August 2024
Church and humanitarian leaders are urging Australians to push for better emergency aid funding in Sudan amid famine in the war-ravaged nation.
They fear millions will die as starvation and disease takes hold.
Political tensions between rival military groups caused the eruption of the deadly conflict in April 2023.
A global hunger taskforce declared a famine in parts of Sudan this August, and aid groups believe the additional crisis will worsen the widespread suffering overwhelming the country.
Caritas Australia said despite causing severe trauma and leading to some of the largest numbers of internally displaced people, Sudan’s war was one of the most underfunded conflicts.
Humanitarian Emergencies lead Sally Thomas said many civilians faced relentless attacks, and there was escalating sexual violence towards women and children.
Read more: ‘We shout and plead with God … that this terrible suffering might end’
Ms Thomas said the extreme danger hampered Caritas Sudan and other partner agency efforts on the ground, including providing healthcare and protection services.
She said the continuous movement of people and the recent flooding caused by a burst dam over a large geographic area, complicated aid delivery.
She said the organisations were also seeing an escalating health crisis caused by overcrowded camps, and the proliferation of cholera.
Ms Thomas believed more funding would better enable Caritas to provide more water and sanitation resources, and to prioritise protection services and the creation of safe areas for women and children.
She said Caritas just wanted an end to the conflict and urged the international community to push governments to work harder for this.
The Australian Council for International Development said the international humanitarian response plan for 2024 required US$2.7 billion, and Australia had contributed $33 million to it.
Humanitarian advisor Naomi Brooks said although this was welcomed, aid groups along with many Sudanese diaspora communities in Australia, wanted more to be done to address the humanitarian crisis.
Ms Brooks said NGOs needed to be further resourced to scale up urgent operations, especially given the declaration of famine in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The Anglican Diocese of Kadugli in the Nuba mountains said money was needed for food in that area despite it not experiencing famine yet.
Bishop Andudu Elnail said overwhelming numbers of people had fled to the mountains for food, shelter and safety, and the diocese had aided about 20,000 of them so far.
Read more: Millions need urgent food, shelter, peace amid Sudan civil war
Bishop Elnail said people kept arriving weekly at the diocese from different directions and it was now short of money because food was becoming more expensive and transport of food difficult.
He said more funds were also needed for shelter materials and more medicines for the IDPs because they were beginning to contract malaria.
Bishop Elnail said there were few if any aid organisations in the Nuba area, and the diocese relied on the support of Anglicans around the world to keep helping the IDPs.
He said it was relieved to be able to buy some food for them when it received an amount from a US-base congregation recently.
“It was little, but better than nothing, thank God,” Bishop Elnail said.
Ms Thomas said Australians could help bring an end to the crisis by asking their local members of parliament to do what they could to ensure the safety of communities in Sudan.
She asked them to consider donating to their chosen charities who were on the ground in Sudan, because the organisations were “bleeding”.
“People in Sudan must not be forgotten,” Ms Thomas said. “There is severe trauma, and more needs to be done now to stop what is happening.”
Foreign Affairs minister Penny Wong said in June Australia was concerned by the deteriorating situation in Horn of Africa countries including Sudan and Ethiopia.
“We continue to advocate for political solutions to these conflicts and to call for safe and unimpeded access for humanitarian organisations,” she said in a statement.
To donate to the Anglican Diocese of Kadugli via Anglican Aid, see here.
To donate to Caritas’s Sudan appeal, see here.
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