In brief
Jan Egeland of the Norwegian Refugee Council raises alarm bells over Sudan's deteriorating civil society and rampant violence as conflicts escalate, threatening the nation's stability.
War-torn Sudan faces an imminent risk of becoming a failed state as civil society crumbles under the weight of warring armed factions, asserts Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). In an interview with the BBC, Egeland emphasized the escalating chaos not only among the primary contenders—the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—but also among a multitude of smaller ethnic militias engaged in rampant looting and violence against civilians.According to Egeland, these armed groups are essentially "tearing down their own houses and massacring their own people." The ongoing conflict, which has plunged the country into turmoil for the past nineteen months, has displaced over 10 million individuals, leading Sudan to the precipice of a catastrophic hunger crisis. Reflecting on his recent visit to the region, Egeland stated, "All that I saw confirms that this is indeed the biggest humanitarian emergency on our watch," highlighting the extraordinary scale of displacement and hunger.The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that starvation is a pervasive issue across Sudan, with essential aid operations suffering from severe funding shortages, leading to the closure of soup kitchens. Egeland lamented that the inadequate humanitarian response means that current aid efforts merely extend lives rather than save them. He noted, "Most of Sudan is starving," asserting that starvation has become a deliberate tactic in the ongoing conflict.Crisis conditions are anticipated to worsen, with food security experts projecting that up to 2.5 million could perish from starvation by year's end. Egeland criticized the global community's insufficient response, urging Europe to step up investments in aid and protection to avert a looming refugee crisis.As thousands have been killed since the civil conflict erupted, concerns about ethnic cleansing and genocide persist. Yet, negotiations between the army and RSF remain unproductive. Egeland pointed out that the conflict will only cease when the involved warlords perceive that the alternatives to peace are more detrimental than continuing the fighting.
