NAIROBI: Parts of Sudan are in famine, a top US diplomat said on Tuesday, adding that the extent of extreme hunger remained unclear nearly 14 months into a war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“I think we know we are in famine,” Tom Perriello, the US special envoy to Sudan, said in an interview. “I think the question is how much famine, how much of the country, and for how long.”
No formal declaration of famine has been made in Sudan.
Famines are determined using a complex set of technical criteria, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an initiative of UN agencies, regional bodies and aid groups. They include extreme levels of malnutrition and mortality.
UN agencies warned at the end of May that Sudan was at “imminent risk of famine,” with about 18 million people acutely hungry, including 3.6 million children who were severely malnourished.
In an assessment in March, the IPC said nearly 5 million people in Sudan were one step away from famine.
Reuters has reported on how the war has driven some people to eat soil and leaves to survive.
