Administrator Samantha Power announced today that the United States, through USAID and the U.S. Department of State, intends to provide more than $315 million in additional humanitarian assistance to support the people of Sudan in response to the historic humanitarian crisis. Fourteen months of war have pushed nearly five million people in Sudan into extreme hunger, and available evidence suggests high and rising levels of acute malnutrition and hunger-related deaths among internally displaced populations.
According to the International Organization for Migration, the number of internally displaced people has surpassed 10 million, including displacements from prior conflicts. Roughly 25 million people in Sudan need immediate aid. The conflict is also driving increased food insecurity in Sudan's neighboring countries, where nearly two million displaced people have sought refuge.
The USAID assistance announced today includes urgently needed food aid, malnutrition screening and treatment for young children, safe drinking water, and emergency health care, among other essential relief. Department of State support will provide life-saving assistance to refugees, host communities, and other conflict-affected people across Sudan and five neighboring refugee-receiving countries - the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. This includes funding for protection; education; health services; nutrition; shelter; and water, sanitation, and hygiene.
While this additional assistance is vital to meeting the needs of the most vulnerable, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) must also live up to their commitments and obligations to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to mitigate the catastrophe unfolding now. Urgently needed cross-line assistance, moving goods from SAF to RSF territory or vice versa, is limited, and unhindered cross-border movements through Adre, on the Chad border, is needed immediately in order to address famine-like conditions faced by millions of people. Obstruction by combatants is a driving force behind the historic levels of starvation and large-scale deaths in Sudan. The United States is focused on immediately scaling up and sustaining the capacity of humanitarian partners, including through market-based and in-kind support, to help avoid breaks in the delivery of life-saving relief for the most vulnerable.
The United States continues to stand with the people of Sudan and calls for the RSF and SAF to immediately adhere to international humanitarian law and return to the negotiating table to end this war that has caused so much suffering for the people of Sudan.
