NEW YORK CITY: The UN on Wednesday warned that a record 18 million people in Sudan, more than a third of the country’s population, are facing acute food insecurity.
The rapid slide into this “catastrophic” state of affairs is driven by a relentless civil war that has been raging between rival military factions for 11 months across the country. It has caused severe damage to livelihoods and food infrastructure, disrupted flow of trade, caused prices to rise sharply, placed constraints on humanitarian access, and caused the largest displacement crisis in the world, affecting more than 8 million people, the UN said.
“Sudan is one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory” and is on course to become “the world’s worst hunger crisis,” said Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy at the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
She was briefing a meeting of the Security Council called by council members Guyana and Switzerland, along with Sierra Leone and Slovenia, to discuss food insecurity in Sudan.
It followed a so-called “white note” alert sent by OCHA to council members highlighting the quickly deteriorating situation. It warned that the populations most affected by food insecurity are concentrated in areas of most-active conflict, including Al-Jazirah, Darfur, Khartoum and Kordofan.
Maurizio Martina, the deputy director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization, told council members the spread of the conflict to Al-Jazirah state in particular poses a “significant threat to national food production.”
This region is considered Sudan’s “breadbasket” because it produces about 50 percent of the nation’s wheat and 10 percent of its sorghum, which are essential crops. It is also the location of the Gezira Scheme, the country’s most important irrigation project and one of the largest of its kind in the world.
Experts warn that women, children and internally displaced people are at greatest risk from the food crisis in Sudan. The OCHA said projections suggest 730,000 children, including 240,000 in
Darfur, will suffer the most severe form of childhood malnutrition if the situation does not improve.
As well as describing to the Security Council the ways in which the civil war is driving the food crisis, Wosornu also highlighted accounts of sexual violence and ethnically motivated attacks in conflict hot spots.
“It is truly the stuff of nightmares,” she said. “There are reports of mass graves, gang rapes, shockingly indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas and many more horrors.”
In Khartoum, Darfur and Kordofan, which are home to about 90 percent of the people facing emergency-level acute food insecurity, Wosornu said there had been “no respite from the fierce fighting for 340 days.”
This has resulted in “extensive damage, looting and widespread destruction of critical infrastructure, including food and nutrition manufacturing facilities, once the pride of Sudan,” she added.
“Farmers have been forced to abandon their farmlands. National cereal production has dropped by almost half since last year. And the supply of animal-sourced food, such as milk, has plummeted, contributing to spiraling levels of malnutrition.
“Meanwhile the conflict has driven up prices of basic food commodities by a staggering 83 percent compared to the pre-crisis period.”
Wosornu warned that by the time the lean season arrives in May, people in some parts of Darfur could be facing “catastrophic” levels of acute food insecurity.
“Malnutrition is soaring to alarming levels and is already claiming children’s (lives),” she said. “One child is dying every two hours in Zamzam camp in El-Fasher, North Darfur.”
Humanitarian officials estimate that in the weeks and months ahead, somewhere in the region of 222,000 children could die from malnutrition. With 70 percent of health facilities not functional, children who are malnourished are at greater risk of dying from preventable diseases.
“It seems utterly unfathomable that this tragedy could be allowed to happen. It keeps us all up at night and will do so for a long time,” said Wosornu.
She lamented the continuing lack of access for humanitarian workers to the most vulnerable parts of the country, despite a recent Security Council resolution calling warring sides in Sudan to allow the unhindered flow of aid.
On Feb. 21, the Sudanese government announced the suspension of cross-border aid deliveries from eastern Chad through the Adre border crossing, which has limited the UN’s humanitarian operations in Darfur.
On March 5, the government announced it would facilitate the delivery of aid supplies via other routes: from Chad using the Tine border crossing; from South Sudan through the Renk border crossing; and by allowing aircraft carrying aid to access airports in the cities of Al-Fasher, Kadugli and Al-Obeid.
While she welcomed these provisions, Wosornu said they were “far from enough in the face of looming famine,” and called for more entry points to be provided “as soon as possible and kept open for as long as they are needed; one-off arrangements are not sufficient.”
She also emphasized the need for immediate approval of deliveries of aid from Port Sudan that cross the battle lines of the conflict.
“We have not been able to cross conflict lines into parts of Khartoum since October 2023 due to insecurity and lack of timely approvals,” Wosornu said.
She also called on all involved in the war to protect humanitarian workers and the supplies they deliver. Since the outbreak of hostilities, 20 aid workers have been killed and 33 injured. About 150 warehouses and offices used by humanitarian operations have been looted.
In December in Al-Jazirah State, for example, an armed group looted a warehouse containing food supplies in an area controlled by the Rapid Support Forces, one of the factions locked in conflict. Wosornu said the attack affected supplies that could have fed 1.5 million acutely food-insecure people for a month.
Meanwhile, of the $2.7 billion needed to fund aid efforts in Sudan this year, only $131 million, less than 5 percent, has so far been received.
“A humanitarian travesty is playing out in Sudan under a veil of international inattention and inaction,” Wosornu told the council. “Simply put, we are failing the people of Sudan.”
She once again called on the international community to ensure all of those involved in the conflict “respect their obligations under international humanitarian law, including the prohibition of the use of starvation as a method of warfare, and the protection of vital goods, infrastructure and services needed for food systems and production, (and that they facilitate) cross-line and cross-border humanitarian access.”
She also called for the scaling up of funding for humanitarian operations, and of efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire and peaceful resolution to the conflict.
“These recommendations are only as good as the action taken on them,” Wosornu said.
“As we approach the one-year anniversary of the conflict, we cannot make clearer the desperation that civilians are facing in Sudan. We cannot explain in greater terms the catastrophic situation. And we cannot underscore more the need for Council action.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US permanent representative to the UN, said members of both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, the opposing forces in the conflict, have committed war crimes.
She urged “regional powers to immediately end the provision of weapons to the parties in Sudan,” reminding them that “there is a binding UN arms embargo in place in Darfur.”
She also underscored “the prohibition on starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and said that if the SAF does not reverse its decision to limit cross-border access as a matter of urgency, “the Security Council must take swift action to ensure life-saving aid is delivered and distributed, and consider all tools at its disposal, including authorizing a cross-border mechanism.”
Sudan heading toward world’s worst hunger crisis, UN Security Council warned
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Sudan heading toward world’s worst hunger crisis, UN Security Council warned
- 18 million people face acute food insecurity in the midst of a civil war that has been raging for 11 months
- Experts describe the humanitarian crisis in the country as a ‘travesty’ and the ‘stuff of nightmares’
Israeli forces detain director of north Gaza hospital, health officials say
- Dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital detained for interrogation
- Palestinian militant group Hamas denied its fighters were present in the hospital
GAZA STRIP: Gaza health officials said on Saturday that Israeli forces detained the director of a hospital in the north, which the World Health Organization said was put out of service by an Israeli raid.
“The occupation forces have taken dozens of the medical staff from Kamal Adwan Hospital to a detention center for interrogation, including the director, Hossam Abu Safiyeh,” the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement.
The Gaza civil defense agency also reported that Abu Safiyeh had been detained, adding that the agency’s director for the north, Ahmed Hassan Al-Kahlout was among those held.
“The occupation has completely destroyed the medical, humanitarian, and civil defense systems in the north, rendering them useless,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defense agency, told AFP.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it had launched an operation in the area of Kamal Adwan Hospital, alleging the facility was a “key stronghold for terrorist organizations.”
Palestinian militant group Hamas denied its militants were present in the hospital, and charged that Israeli forces had stormed the facility on Friday.
The World Health Organization, meanwhile, said the Israeli military operation had put the hospital out of service.
“This morning’s raid on Kamal Adwan Hospital has put this last major health facility in north Gaza out of service. Initial reports indicate that some key departments were severely burnt and destroyed during the raid,” the WHO said in a statement on X.
Humanitarian disaster in Yemen could get even worse if attacks by Israel continue, UN warns
- Israeli strikes on air and sea ports, and continuing detentions by the Houthis cause great anxiety among aid workers, UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Yemen tells Arab News
- Israeli warplanes struck the international airport in Sanaa on Thursday, as well as seaports and power stations on the Red Sea coast, killing at least 4 people
NEW YORK CITY: The humanitarian crisis in Yemen, already one of the most dire in the world, threatens to get even worse should Israel continue to attack Hodeidah seaport and Sanaa airport and puts them out of action, the UN warned on Friday.
Julien Harneis, the organization’s resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said the number of people in the country in need of aid to survive is expected to reach 19 million in the coming year.
Speaking from Sanaa, he said Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, has the second-highest number of malnourished children of any nation, and ranks third in terms of food insecurity.
The civil war there, which has dragged on for nearly a decade, has decimated the economy and left millions of civilians without access to the basic necessities of life, he added. The country is in the throes of a “survival crisis” and the number of people unable to access healthcare services is one of the highest in the world.
On Thursday, Israeli warplanes struck the international airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, as well as seaports and power stations on the Red Sea coast, killing at least four people. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the attacks were a response to more than a year of missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis, and were “just getting started.”
The Houthis began attacking Israel and international shipping lanes shortly after the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. They have vowed to continue as long as the war goes on.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Israeli airstrikes and said he was “gravely concerned” about the intensified escalation of hostilities. He said the strikes on the airport and seaports were “especially alarming,” and warned that they pose “grave risks to humanitarian operations” in the war-torn country.
Harneis, who was in the vicinity of the airport during the strikes, told of the destruction of its air traffic control tower, which left the facility temporarily nonoperational. A member of the UN staff was injured in the strike, and there were significant concerns about the safety of humanitarian workers in the area, he added. The airstrikes took place while a Yemeni civilian airliner was landing, additionally raising fears for the safety of passengers.
The airport is a critical hub for the delivery of humanitarian aid, and a key departure point for Yemenis seeking medical treatment abroad. Harneis said destruction of the airport would have far-reaching implications for international aid operations and the ability of Yemenis to access life-saving healthcare.
Hodeidah seaport is another focal point for humanitarian efforts in Yemen, with 80 percent of the country’s food and 95 percent of medical supplies arriving through this gateway. The recent airstrikes, which damaged tugs used to guide large ships, have reduced the port’s capacity by 50 percent.
“Any damage to this crucial facility would only deepen the suffering of the Yemeni population,” Harneis warned. He also reiterated that the one of the UN’s tasks is to ensure the harbor is used solely for civilian purposes in accordance with international law.
In addition to the immediate physical dangers airstrikes pose to its staff, the UN is also grappling with the detention of 17 of its workers by the Houthis, which casts another shadow over humanitarian operations.
Harneis said the UN has been in negotiations with the Houthis in Sanaa and continues to work “tirelessly” to secure the release of detained staff.
About 3,000 UN employees are currently working in Yemen, Harneis told Arab News, and the ongoing detentions and the threat of further airstrikes continue to create an atmosphere of anxiety. Given these risks, the emotional toll on staff is significant, he said.
“Many colleagues were very anxious about even coming to the office or going out on field missions. It’s very heavy for everyone,” he added.
Though there have been some improvements in operating conditions for humanitarian workers in recent months, Harneis said that when staff see that 16 of their colleagues are still detained “there’s obviously a great deal of anxiety.”
He added: “Then if you add in to that air strikes and the fear of more airstrikes, there is the fear of what’s going to happen next? Are we going to see attacks against bridges, roads, electricity systems? What does that mean for them?”
Despite the challenges to aid efforts, Harneis stressed that as the situation continues to evolve it is the response from the international community that will determine whether or not Yemen can avoid descending even more deeply into disaster.
Israel says intercepted missile from Yemen, day after Sanaa hit with strikes
- Israeli raids on Thursday also targeted the adjacent Al-Dailami air base, which shares Sanaa airport’s runway
SANAA: The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile launched from Yemen early Saturday, a day after the Houthi-held capital Sanaa was hit by fresh air strikes.
Sirens sounded in areas of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea on Saturday as “a missile launched from Yemen was intercepted... prior to crossing into Israeli territory,” the Israeli military said.
The day before, a fresh air strike hit Sanaa, which Houthi rebels blamed on “US-British aggression” though it remains unclear who was behind it.
There was no comment from Israel, the United States or Britain.
“I heard the blast. My house shook,” one Sanaa resident told AFP late Friday.
The Iran-backed Houthis control large parts of Yemen after seizing Sanaa and ousting the government in 2014.
Since the eruption of war in Gaza in October last year, the Houthis — claiming solidarity with Palestinians — have fired a series of missiles and drones at Israel.
They have stepped up their attacks since November’s ceasefire between Israel and another Iran-backed group, Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Israel has also struck Yemen, including targeting Sanaa’s international airport on Thursday in an attack that came as the head of the World Health Organization was about to board a plane.
The Houthis have also attacked commercial shipping in the Red Sea, prompting reprisal strikes by the United States and sometimes Britain.
Earlier Friday, before the strike on Sanaa, tens of thousands of people gathered to protest and express solidarity with Palestinians.
“The equation has changed and has become: (targeting) airport for airport, port for port, and infrastructure for infrastructure,” Houthi supporter Mohammed Al-Gobisi said.
“We will not get tired or bored of supporting our brothers in Gaza.”
Israel’s strike on the Sanaa international airport on Thursday shattered windows and left the top of the control tower a bombed-out shell.
A witness told AFP that the raids also targeted the adjacent Al-Dailami air base, which shares the airport’s runway.
“The attack resulted in four dead until now and around 20 wounded from staff, airport and passengers,” Houthi Deputy Transport Minister Yahya Al-Sayani said.
It occurred as the head of the UN’s World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was preparing to fly out, and left one UN crew member injured.
Tedros was in Yemen to seek the release of UN staff detained for months by the Houthis, and to assess the humanitarian situation. He later posted on social media that he had safely reached Jordan with his team.
He said the injured member of the UN’s Humanitarian Air Service “underwent successful surgery and is now in stable condition.”
Israel’s military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether they knew at the time that the WHO chief was there.
An Israeli statement said its targets included “military infrastructure” at the airport and power stations in Sanaa and Hodeida — a major entry point for humanitarian aid — as well as other facilities at several ports.
Houthis use these sites “to smuggle Iranian weapons into the region and for the entry of senior Iranian officials,” the statement said.
But UN humanitarian coordinator Julien Harneis said the airport was “a civilian location” which the UN also uses, and the strikes took place as “a packed civilian airliner from Yemenia Air, carrying hundreds of Yemenis, was about to land.”
Although the plane “was able to land safely... it could have been far, far worse,” Harneis said.
In his latest warning to the Houthis, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s strikes would “continue until the job is done.”
“We are determined to cut this branch of terrorism from the Iranian axis of evil,” he said in a video statement.
Despite the damage, flights at Sanaa airport resumed at 10 am (0700 GMT) on Friday, deputy transport minister Sayani said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced the escalation in hostilities, and said bombing transportation infrastructure threatened humanitarian operations in Yemen, where 80 percent of the population depends on aid.
The United Nations has called Yemen “the largest humanitarian crisis in the world,” with 24.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid and protection.
The airport is “absolutely vital” to continue transporting aid for Yemen, UN humanitarian coordinator Harneis said.
“If that airport is disabled, it will paralyze humanitarian operations.”
After the attack on Sanaa airport, Houthis said they fired a missile at Ben Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv and launched drones at the city and a ship in the Arabian Sea.
The Israeli military said the same day a missile launched from Yemen had been intercepted.
Israeli “aggression will only increase the determination and resolve of the great Yemeni people to continue supporting the Palestinian people,” a Houthi statement said Friday.
Humanitarian disaster in Yemen could get even worse if attacks by Israel continue, UN warns
- Israeli strikes on air and sea ports, and continuing detentions by the Houthis cause great anxiety among aid workers, UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Yemen tells Arab News
- Israeli warplanes struck the international airport in Sanaa on Thursday, as well as seaports and power stations on the Red Sea coast, killing at least 4 people
NEW YORK CITY: The humanitarian crisis in Yemen, already one of the most dire in the world, threatens to get even worse should Israel continue to attack Hodeidah seaport and Sanaa airport and puts them out of action, the UN warned on Friday.
Julien Harneis, the organization’s resident and humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, said the number of people in the country in need of aid to survive is expected to reach 19 million in the coming year.
Speaking from Sanaa, he said Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, has the second-highest number of malnourished children of any nation, and ranks third in terms of food insecurity.
The civil war there, which has dragged on for nearly a decade, has decimated the economy and left millions of civilians without access to the basic necessities of life, he added. The country is in the throes of a “survival crisis” and the number of people unable to access healthcare services is one of the highest in the world.
On Thursday, Israeli warplanes struck the international airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, as well as seaports and power stations on the Red Sea coast, killing at least four people. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the attacks were a response to more than a year of missile and drone attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis, and were “just getting started.”
The Houthis began attacking Israel and international shipping lanes shortly after the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023. They have vowed to continue as long as the war goes on.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the Israeli airstrikes and said he was “gravely concerned” about the intensified escalation of hostilities. He said the strikes on the airport and seaports were “especially alarming,” and warned that they pose “grave risks to humanitarian operations” in the war-torn country.
Harneis, who was in the vicinity of the airport during the strikes, told of the destruction of its air traffic control tower, which left the facility temporarily nonoperational. A member of the UN staff was injured in the strike, and there were significant concerns about the safety of humanitarian workers in the area, he added. The airstrikes took place while a Yemeni civilian airliner was landing, additionally raising fears for the safety of passengers.
The airport is a critical hub for the delivery of humanitarian aid, and a key departure point for Yemenis seeking medical treatment abroad. Harneis said destruction of the airport would have far-reaching implications for international aid operations and the ability of Yemenis to access life-saving healthcare.
Hodeidah seaport is another focal point for humanitarian efforts in Yemen, with 80 percent of the country’s food and 95 percent of medical supplies arriving through this gateway. The recent airstrikes, which damaged tugs used to guide large ships, have reduced the port’s capacity by 50 percent.
“Any damage to this crucial facility would only deepen the suffering of the Yemeni population,” Harneis warned. He also reiterated that the one of the UN’s tasks is to ensure the harbor is used solely for civilian purposes in accordance with international law.
In addition to the immediate physical dangers airstrikes pose to its staff, the UN is also grappling with the detention of 17 of its workers by the Houthis, which casts another shadow over humanitarian operations.
Harneis said the UN has been in negotiations with the Houthis in Sanaa and continues to work “tirelessly” to secure the release of detained staff.
About 3,000 UN employees are currently working in Yemen, Harneis told Arab News, and the ongoing detentions and the threat of further airstrikes continue to create an atmosphere of anxiety. Given these risks, the emotional toll on staff is significant, he said.
“Many colleagues were very anxious about even coming to the office or going out on field missions. It’s very heavy for everyone,” he added.
Though there have been some improvements in operating conditions for humanitarian workers in recent months, Harneis said that when staff see that 16 of their colleagues are still detained “there’s obviously a great deal of anxiety.”
He added: “Then if you add in to that air strikes and the fear of more airstrikes, there is the fear of what’s going to happen next? Are we going to see attacks against bridges, roads, electricity systems? What does that mean for them?”
Despite the challenges to aid efforts, Harneis stressed that as the situation continues to evolve it is the response from the international community that will determine whether or not Yemen can avoid descending even more deeply into disaster.
Relatives of Bashar Assad arrested as they tried to fly out of Lebanon
- Wife and daughter of Assad's cousin arrested at Beirut airport
BEIRUT: The wife and daughter of one of deposed Syrian president Bashar Assad ‘s cousins were arrested Friday at the Beirut airport, where they attempted to fly out with allegedly forged passports, Lebanese judicial and security officials said. Assad’s uncle departed the day before.
Rasha Khazem, the wife of Duraid Assad — the son of former Syrian Vice President Rifaat Assad, the uncle of Bashar Assad — and their daughter, Shams, were smuggled illegally into Lebanon and were trying to fly to Egypt when they were arrested, according to five Lebanese officials familiar with the case. They were being detained by Lebanese General Security. Rifaat had flown out the day before on his real passport and was not stopped, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Swiss federal prosecutors in March indicted Rifaat on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering murder and torture more than four decades ago.
Rifaat Assad, the brother of Bashar Assad’s father Hafez Assad, Syria’s former ruler, led the artillery unit that shelled the city of Hama and killed thousands, earning him the nickname the “Butcher of Hama.”
Earlier this year, Rifaat Assad was indicted in Switzerland for war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Hama.
Tens of thousands of Syrians are believed to have entered Lebanon illegally on the night of Assad’s fall earlier this month, when insurgent forces entered Damascus.
The Lebanese security and judicial officials said that more than 20 members of the former Syrian Army’s notorious 4th Division, military intelligence officers and others affiliated with Assad’s security forces were arrested earlier in Lebanon. Some of them were arrested when they attempted to sell their weapons.
Lebanon’s public prosecution office also received an Interpol notice requesting the arrest of Jamil Al-Hassan, the former director of Syrian intelligence under Assad. Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati previously told Reuters that Lebanon would cooperate with the Interpol request to arrest Al-Hassan.
