Hunger drives Sudanese to seek refuge abroad

[Nairaland]

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Hunger and looming famine are driving a growing number of people to flee war-torn Sudan in search of refuge in neighboring countries, according to World Health Organization officials.

Dr. Shible Sahbani, WHO representative to Sudan, recently told journalists that he met Sudanese refugees on a recent mission to Chad who?d left home only because of hunger.

?They say it is not insecurity, it is not a lack of access to basic services, but because they have nothing to eat,? he said at Tuesday?s press conference in Geneva.

An acute food insecurity analysis by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, in late June indicates that 14 months into the conflict, ?Sudan is facing the worst levels of acute food insecurity ever recorded by the IPC in the country,? noting that the number of acutely hungry people has risen from 17.7 million to 25.6 million over the last six months.

?There is a risk of famine in 14 areas in greater Darfur, Greater Kordofan, Al Jazirah states and some hotspots in Khartoum if the conflict escalates further, including through increased mobilization of local militias,? says the report.

Sahbani has previously described refugees fleeing the Darfur and Kordofan regions as ?disturbing, heartbreaking even,? explaining that women and children spoke of ?loss of life, loss of belongings, hunger, disease, a lack of basic services and violence, including sexual violence.? All of this, he said, has led to a massive influx of refugees in the neighboring countries.