Urgent UNICEF Call for $400 Million Aid to Combat Child Displacement Due to War in Sudan
(AWP) - The Deputy Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Sudan, Mary Louise Eagelton, made an urgent call for $400 million in aid during the upcoming six months to care for the waves of children displaced by the war that has torn the country apart since April.
""After more than seven months of war, three million children have fled their homes in Sudan. They have lost everything. They have lost family members. They have lost their friends, their parents. Their caregivers have lost their jobs, and they have fled to safer areas and across borders. About half a million of them have crossed the border,” she said.
"The entire humanitarian response plan and all actors involved in the humanitarian response in Sudan are only 30% funded. UNICEF has similar concerns about the funding crisis, and we are requesting an urgent sum of $400 million so that we can maintain and scale these vital, life-saving services over the next six months,” she added.
UNICEF says that nearly 700,000 Sudanese children face life-threatening, acute malnutrition amidst the tough circumstances that have arisen since clashes broke out between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) more than six months ago.
After an arduous journey of more than a thousand kilometres, Hanan Ali, a displaced woman, was able to reach the city of Port Sudan in the Red Sea State to escape the battles in Wad Madani. She now lives in a shelter centre with her four children, amid very difficult conditions.
She lost her husband during the war, and was overcome with tears as she described the suffering she has gone through alone after her family was separated and spread across several areas of the country.
"I don’t have a man with me, and I don’t work. Praise be to God, I suffered [coming] from [Wad] Madani to Port Sudan. My children contracted diseases, and were cared for in hospitals with the support of charitable people until I arrived in Port Sudan. Now I suffer from not being able to provide them with food and drink," she said.
Sudan is currently facing the world’s biggest child displacement crisis, after three million children have fled the widespread violence in search of safety, food, shelter, and health care.
UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that further attacks and disruption of health and nutrition services in Sudan could lead to the death of more than 10,000 additional children by the end of the year.
In a joint report last month, the two organisations added that the conflict in Sudan will leave millions of children vulnerable to the risk of cholera, dengue fever, measles, malaria and other diseases.