Afghanistan is “not a hopeless crisis,” Edem Wosornu of the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, told journalists in New York, following a recent visit to the country, Pakistan and war-wracked Sudan.
A destroyed building in the Omdurman area of Sudan, where the war that has been ongoing since April 15th has caused widespread destruction to infrastructure.
‘Five-alarm fire’ in Sudan
She also used the briefing to keep focus on the crisis in Sudan, which she called a “five-alarm fire of the worst kind”.
Some 18 million people are facing acute hunger after two years of war between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Five million “are a step away from starvation” and the risk of famine is real. Rampant human rights violations have been committed.
The fighting has forced nine million people to flee to safety, whether elsewhere in Sudan or across the border to countries such as South Sudan, Chad and Ethiopia.
The UN has repeatedly been pushing for safe humanitarian access and aid delivery, whether across frontlines or borders.
Ms. Wosornu was asked if she participated in any crossline negotiations, and if progress on this issue can be achieved.
She said the UN met with the RSF’s so-called civilian arm in Nairobi and with the Government of Sudan in Port Sudan. She expressed hope that the negotiations will be successful, “but what I can tell you is every day we delay in that ability to get across to people, that is when we will lose lives.”