Politics Head of the Refugee Council Egeland: Sudan on the brink of total collapse

The Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRK), Jan Egeland, accuses the international community of neglecting the dramatic humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

This is "truly outrageous", said the head of the aid organization. The humanitarian crisis in Sudan is "bigger than the (crises in) Ukraine, Gaza and Somalia combined", Egeland told the German Press Agency after a trip that had taken him to Darfur in the west, among other places.

Other conflicts such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East should not distract attention from the suffering of the people in Sudan: "If we all agree that human life is of equal value everywhere in the world, then Sudan should now be at the top of our list."

Referring to the tense food situation and the famine that has been declared in parts of the country, Egeland said: "24 million lives are at stake. We are witnessing a relentless countdown to famine, despair and the collapse of an entire civilization."

Destroyed houses and burned down neighborhoods

Egeland had seen the consequences of the conflict, which has been going on for almost 600 days, on the ground. "In many areas, including those where we worked, I saw the signs of a terrible war. House after house, neighborhood after neighborhood burned down, looted and destroyed," he said.

A bloody power struggle has been raging in Sudan since April 2023 between ruler Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo. More than eleven million people are displaced within Sudan and in neighboring countries. The parties to the conflict are accused of serious crimes against humanity, including ethnic expulsions in the Darfur region.

Egeland warns: Sudan could be at the heart of the next refugee crisis

Without a perspective for the people in Sudan, the consequences could also be felt in the EU, warned Egeland: "I believe that Europe has still not understood that another moment like in 2015, when one million people crossed the Mediterranean, is on the horizon."

SDA