Conflict in Sudan
Refugee Council chief Egeland: Sudan on the verge of total collapse
After a visit to Sudan, the head of an aid organization says he saw a country on the brink. He warns: The consequences of a collapse could also affect the EU.
The Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRK), Jan Egeland, accuses the international community of neglecting the dramatic humanitarian crisis in Sudan. This is “really outrageous,” said the head of the aid organization. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is “bigger than the (crises in) Ukraine, Gaza and Somalia combined,” Egeland told the German Press Agency after a trip that took him, among other places, to western Darfur.
Other conflicts such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East should not obscure the view of the suffering of the people in Sudan: “If we all agree that human life is worth the same everywhere in the world, then Sudan should now be completely are at the top of our list.”
Referring to the tense food situation and the famine that has been declared in parts of the country, Egeland said: “24 million lives are at stake. We are witnessing a relentless countdown to starvation, despair and the collapse of an entire civilization.”
Destroyed houses and burned down neighborhoods
Egeland had seen the consequences of the conflict, which had been going on for almost 600 days, on site. “In many areas, including those where we worked, I saw the signs of a terrible war. House after house, neighborhood after neighborhood burned, looted and destroyed,” he said.
Since April 2023, there has been a bloody power struggle in Sudan between ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. More than eleven million people are on the run within Sudan and neighboring countries. The parties to the conflict are accused of serious crimes against humanity, including ethnic displacement in the Darfur region.
Egeland warns: Sudan could be at the heart of the next refugee crisis
Without a perspective for the people in Sudan, the consequences could also be felt in the EU, Egeland warned: “I think Europe still hasn’t understood that another moment like the one in 2015 is looming, in which a million people crossed the Mediterranean cross over.”
dpa
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
