Effects of Sudan conflict could spill into region, says USAID official

The situation in Sudan is “grim” after deadly fighting between two rival armies sparked the collapse of the country’s health care system and unleashed violence against women, and it could also trigger a hunger crisis and regional refugee emergency, a top official from the U.S. Agency for International Development told U.S. senators on Wednesday. Sarah Charles, who heads USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, told lawmakers that despite the difficulty of assessing needs on the ground, USAID has seen humanitarian needs skyrocket since the fighting began April 15. “As people took shelter from bombardment and bullets, they depleted their food stocks, medicine supplies, money reserves, and other resources, leading to rising hunger levels and deteriorating health for many,” Charles said. About 70% of hospitals in areas where the conflict has been taking place have stopped working, Charles said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. In the next three to six months, 19 million people could face hunger and struggle for food if the fighting continues, she said. Meanwhile, more than 700,000 people have been forced to flee their homes and seek shelter elsewhere, while nearly 200,000 have escaped to neighboring countries. “The ramifications of this conflict do not end at Sudan’s borders — they stretch out into the region, compounding existing humanitarian needs across several countries,” Charles said. USAID’s response USAID has sent what is known as a Disaster Response Assistance Team, or DART, to work out of Nairobi, Kenya, to help with the agency’s work in Sudan. Charles also said that her bureau has “activated” a team in Washington to help coordinate the agency’s programs and the U.S. government’s humanitarian response in Sudan, which is the third-largest country in Africa. A significant chunk of USAID’s work in Sudan is currently suspended, but 19 of the agency’s 33 partners in Sudan are working in a much-reduced capacity to deliver needed help. But it has not been easy. “One USAID partner has been dispatching a network of midwives across Khartoum to manage obstetric emergencies and support home births in the midst of airstrikes, gunfire, and rubble,” Charles told lawmakers. “Their staff have also provided critical health care services and distributed supplies to support safe births for women and girls affected by the conflict.” “The ramifications of this conflict do not end at Sudan’s borders — they stretch out into the region, compounding existing humanitarian needs across several countries.” --— Sarah Charles, assistant to the administrator, USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance There have been multiple attempts at a ceasefire, but these have barely held. The two sides are now reportedly gathered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for talks brokered by the U.S. and Saudis to try to end the fighting. Due to the insecurity, USAID is unable to deliver resources currently sitting at Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport, or anchored in the Suez Canal, to areas of the country that need them. “One of the key elements of those talks in Jeddah right now is the kind of security arrangements that would allow those supplies to come in, and come in at scale, and be distributed in a way that is more reliable,” Charles said. Stretched thin As the world grapples with multiple global crises, including the continuing war in Ukraine, USAID may struggle to sustain a robust response in Sudan, Charles said. “Even before this crisis, last year we knew that Sudan was one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to Russia’s war in Ukraine, because of how dependent it was on wheat imports [from the region],” Charles said. “So we’d already tried to scale up our assistance in Sudan, and it was already going to be hard to sustain that this year given competing demands.” Charles pointed out that as of May 9, less than 16% of the requested $1.7 billion for the United Nations’ Humanitarian Response Plan funds for Sudan this year has been funded. She said since October, her agency has given more than $162.5 million in humanitarian assistance. But more was needed. “We are definitely pressing other donors. We are pleased to hear the Saudis announce $100 million last week. But we want to see that delivered to partners that can actually deliver on the ground,” Charles said. Charles added that Canada and the European Union had indicated that they will support the aid effort in Sudan. She also hoped that the Gulf countries, which she said had stepped away from humanitarian assistance, would step up as well. Charles, who earlier in her career had worked in Sudan, was critical of Sudanese authorities and particularly the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commission, or HAC, an agency that governs aid work in the country. Charles said HAC has “hampered humanitarian action and delayed life-saving assistance in Sudan.” She called on Sudanese officials to allow for the quick clearance of humanitarian goods and issue visas quickly so that humanitarian workers can enter the country. “I have been dealing with the HAC, the Sudanese Humanitarian Aid Commission, off and on for almost two decades now, and their behavior is egregious even under the best of circumstances, particularly now,” Charles said. She told senators that the agency has been pushing at the Jeddah talks and with Sudan’s embassy officials in Washington for the lifting of bureaucratic obstacles and the issuing of visa waivers so aid can reach the Sudanese people. “It's egregious to have goods held up in customs, in clearance processes in Port Sudan, or have our partners feel like they have to go to the HAC for permission to draw and preposition supplies,” she said. “We have seen some of the food that we were bringing into Port Sudan just cleared in the last couple of days. We are seeing some small progress there.” Asked if humanitarian assistance will be ready to flow into the areas should security be established, Charles said USAID’s partners are ready. “The key is really to have sufficient security to move those supplies from Port Sudan and then to distribute them to where they are most needed, both inside of Khartoum and Darfur” and other areas, Charles said. If the Jeddah talks fail, USAID said it would try to use humanitarian supplies that are already in the country and find ways to get goods into Sudan through other avenues beyond the Port Sudan to Khartoum route. Charles was asked how aid would be delivered if most international organizations had pulled their staff from the country. She pointed out that USAID remains in contact with 30 local NGOs and the Sudanese staff of international aid groups. “We are working with them to reconstitute as quickly as possible and get them the resources they need,” Charles said.