Statement by Linda Thomas on Famine in Sudan’s Zamzam IDP Camp

Statement by Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Famine in Sudan’s Zamzam IDP Camp

Alsudanainews 

For over a year, a senseless war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has created a living nightmare for tens of millions of Sudanese people.

Now, Sudan has reached a dire juncture: Famine has been officially declared in the Zamzam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp in the El Fasher region of North Darfur, where more than 500,000 people are sheltering. Experts suspect Famine may also be occurring in nearby Abu Shouk and Al Salam IDP camps.

This official declaration by the Famine Review Committee confirms what we already knew: people are dying, and have been dying, in Sudan from starvation. Families who fled horrific violence have been going hungry for months. Children have been eating dirt and leaves, and every day, babies have been starving to death. And yet, despite the fact that humanitarian assistance is available, the SAF and RSF have chosen to let the Sudanese people starve, systematically blocking humanitarian corridors.

This includes the SAF blocking humanitarians from surging in supplies through the critical Adre border crossing, which is only hours from Zamzam camp.

Since the beginning of this conflict, I have called on the international community to care more, give more, and do more. The United States has led by example, raising this conflict within and outside the Security Council, working to bring parties to the negotiating table to end the violence, and leading the humanitarian response by providing over $1.6 billion in assistance since September 2023.

But right now, the RSF and SAF must remove barriers to aid, and allow desperately needed food, water, and medicine to flow freely across borders and conflict lines.

And, most of all, they must also participate constructively in ceasefire talks and silence the guns once and for all. I urge Generals Burhan and Hemedti to attend the ceasefire talks in Switzerland on August 14; the people of Sudan deserve nothing less.