Hommam Al Nassim 
The German expert and former United Nations special envoy to Sudan, Volker Peretz, warned of the worsening humanitarian situation in Sudan, noting that famine is looming on the horizon.
In his statements to German television channel ‘ZDF’, Peretz explained that “the situation is getting worse because famine looms on the horizon,” and added that 18 million people, or nearly half of Sudan’s population, are threatened by acute hunger.
“Every day, four or five children die from hunger, and this number will increase in the coming weeks and months,” Peretz said.
Peretz pointed out that the harvest season in Sudan actually begins at this time of the year, but the war prevented the delivery of seeds needed for agriculture.
Despite the demands of the UN Security Council to stop the fighting, both sides ignored these demands. Peretz added that the Rapid Support Forces allow their soldiers to plunder the cities they seize and kill and rape residents. He said, “The army basically has an air force that bombs without considering the civilian population.”
Peretz stressed that the only way to deliver aid to the population is to exert “great pressure on both sides of the conflict,” noting the need to impose a local truce, at least in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state.
Independent human rights experts at the United Nations warned that both parties to the conflict in Sudan are using starvation as a weapon of war, and accused foreign governments that provide them with military support of “complicity” in committing war crimes.
Experts pointed out that more than 25 million civilians are suffering from hunger and are in urgent need of aid, amid warnings of imminent famine.
The experts stressed that foreign governments that provide financial and military support to the two parties to the conflict are complicit in starvation, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The experts did not mention the names of these countries, but they called on the two parties to the conflict to agree on an immediate ceasefire and enter into comprehensive political negotiations. They also called on society. The international community called for “accelerating humanitarian action” and alleviating the suffering of millions of Sudanese suffering from famine.
During a donor conference in the French capital, Paris, last April, several countries pledged to provide aid to Sudan worth more than two billion euros, as Germany pledged to provide 244 million euros to Sudan and its neighbors.
The Sudanese army urges civilians to stay away from Rapid Support Forces gatherings