Nearly 25 million people, half of Sudan’s population, face extreme hunger, while people are dying in famine-hit areas in western Darfur [GETTY]

A nearly two-year-old war has engulfed Sudan in the world’s largest humanitarian crisis and led the African country to become the only nation experiencing famine, a senior UN official said Thursday.

Nearly 25 million people, half of Sudan’s population, face extreme hunger, while people are dying in famine-hit areas in western Darfur, said Shaun Hughes, the World Food Program’s emergency coordinator for Sudan and the region.

Sudan plunged into conflict on 15 April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military and paramilitary leaders broke out in the capital, Khartoum, and spread to other regions, including the vast western Darfur region.

Since then, at least 20,000 people have been tallied as being killed, though the number is likely far higher.

“By any metric, this is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis,” Hughes told UN reporters, pointing to over 8 million people displaced within Sudan and 4 million who have fled across borders to seven countries that also face hunger and need humanitarian aid.

Famine was initially confirmed last August in Zamzam camp in North Darfur, where about 500,000 people sought refuge, but Hughes said it has since spread to 10 other areas in Darfur and Kordofan. He said 17 other areas are at risk of famine in the coming months.

“The scale of what is unfolding in Sudan threatens to dwarf anything we have seen in decades,” Hughes said.

He warned in a video press conference from Nairobi that “tens of thousands more people will die in Sudan during a third year of war unless WFP and other humanitarian agencies have the access and the resources to reach those in need.”

Late last month, the Sudanese military regained control over Khartoum, a major symbolic victory in the war. However, the rival Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group still controls most of Darfur and some other areas.

Hughes said what’s happening in Zamzam camp, which is caught in the conflict, is “horrific”, as is the situation in North Darfur’s capital, El-Fashir, which has been besieged by the RSF since May 2024. It is the only capital in Darfur that the RSF does not hold.

Hughes said WFP receives daily reports from its humanitarian partners and contacts on the ground in North Darfur “that excess mortality is occurring as a result of the famine.”

While WFP has not been able to reach Zamzam with a convoy since October, he said the agency has been able to help some 400,000 people there, in El Fasher and other camps, by transferring cash digitally into people’s bank accounts so they can buy food and other items. However, this is only possible where markets exist.

Hughes said WFP’s assistance to Sudanese people in need has tripled since mid-2024 and that the agency is now reaching over 3 million per month, mainly through a surge in the use of digital cash transfers.

WFP said it wants to help 7 million people in Sudan in the next six months but needs $650 million.

Hughes was asked whether Trump administration funding cuts were responsible for any of that needed amount. He replied: “All allocations that the US government has made to Sudan remain effective, for which we are grateful.”

WFP said it needs an additional $150 million to help people who have fled to Chad, South Sudan, Central African Republic and elsewhere.

“Without funding we either cut the number of people receiving assistance, or cut the amount of assistance we provide people,” Hughes said. “That’s already happening.”  The New Arab Staff & Agencies

President William Ruto’s lawyer has withdrawn from the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) race amid controversy on six names added to the list of interviewees.

Katwa Kigen, who was scheduled to appeal before the Selection Panel on Thursday afternoon, said he had shelved his ambition by "avoiding unnecessary diversion" from the commission’s role.

Panel Chairman, Nelson Makanda said they had received his communication. “Yes, he withdrew. He was supposed to have come today but he withdrew. He sent a letter to withdraw. So, he is not coming and we acknowledge that,” said Dr Makanda. 

On the controversy on the six additional names above the initial 105 listed for the commissioner position, the panel is yet to explain the circumstances. 

Those added to the list are Hassan Noor Hassan, Jibril Maalim Mohamed, Michaels Ben Oliewo, Charles Kipyegon Mutai, Stephen Kibet and Joel Mwita Daniel.

On day 13, Bishop Joseph Kyavoa, Joseph Kipng’etich Magutt, Jonathan Ltipalei Lodompui, John Kilonzo Muthama and Joyce Kemunto appeared before the panel.

The process continues against the controversy as two sides of the political protagonists clash over how the polls body should be reconstituted.  

Wiper, DAP-K and People’s Liberation Party leaders, Kalonzo, Eugene Wamalwa and Martha Karua claimed Kenya Kwanza and ODM were determined to control the recruitment.

But ODM Secretary General, Edwin Sifuna, termed their remarks as unfounded, saying the process is being conducted in compliance with the National Dialogue Committee report.

The exercise is behind schedule with IEBC having missed crucial constitutional deadlines. Sifuna said blamed the Kalonzo party for the delay, saying Wiper had failed to resolve a dispute on its nomination to the Selection Panel.

“In fact one of the candidates shortlisted for membership in the commission is Kalonzo’s advisor, and this is fully within the candidates’ constitutional right,” he said.

MPs from across the political divide agreed to give the panel enough time to complete the vetting process. 

“This nefarious exercise, we believe, is intended to rig the next General Election to perpetuate the continuation of the Kenya Kwanza regime that has clearly lost the trust and confidence of the people of Kenya,” said Karua last month. By Irene Githinji,The Standard