Famine in Sudan: Activist Marine Alneel Says International Community Must Act

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

We turn now to Sudan, where senior United Nations officials are calling on the global community to do more to get humanitarian aid into Sudan after a famine was declared in at least one part of the Darfur region following 15 months of war between the Sudanese military and the Rapid Support Forces. Officials say more than a dozen more areas are at risk of famine as fighting impedes aid. Edem Wosornu of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs addressed the U.N. Security Council Tuesday.

EDEM WOSORNU: When famine happens, it means we are too late. It means we did not do enough. It means we, the international community, have failed. This is an entirely man-made crisis and a shameful stain on our collective conscience.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Sudanese activist Marine Alneel. She’s now in Nairobi, Kenya, usually based in Khartoum, in Sudan.

Marine, thanks for joining us again. Explain how serious the situation is in Sudan right now and what you think needs to happen to address this issue of famine and war.

MARINE ALNEEL: Thank you, Amy.

I think the situation, what we know about it, is that we do not know the gravity of the situation. When Edem was addressing the Security Council, one of the things she mentioned is that 26 million people are facing acute hunger, and compared that to three times the population of New York. And this has been a pattern of what is needed to humanize us as Sudanese again in international media. It’s become synonymous with Sudan, words like “war” and “famine.” And it’s been difficult to get the attention of the international community and the media when speaking about these catastrophes in Sudan. So, we are not sure actually how many people are impacted by this famine.

And I will take us back to our history. It is not known, in the 70 years of our almost 70 years of our independence, how many famines happened. It’s anywhere between five to 17 famines. And this is a continuous pattern in Sudan that catastrophes are always underreported, they’re underdocumented.

And bear in mind, when we say that 26 million people are facing this famine, we’re not counting the refugees who are also starving in camps in neighboring countries. We are not counting the refugees who do not have refugee status but are in different legal status in different places or the internally displaced people who are also not reported as internally displaced because they went from an active conflict zone and now they’re staying with family in different areas.

But everyone in Sudan is strained financially, and even just the means of sustenance that we’re used to in areas outside of Khartoum, outside of the capital city, such as just having your own — growing your own crops, is also endangered by the war and endangered by the climate. We have entered the rainy season. Just last week, we’ve had torrential rains in the Northern state. It’s been reported that it’s killed 17 people. But when you speak to people who are still there in the Northern state, you hear that maybe one person has heard of 17 deaths and attended 17 funerals.

So, we’re seeing the pattern of things being underreported when it comes to the hunger that people are facing, when it comes to the displacement that people are facing, when it comes to the conflict-related sexual violence that people are facing — this is also something that’s been reported from Khartoum, that is becoming a dire situation for women and girls there.

And some of the reasons why we’re not able to address the situation have to do with how it’s being addressed. So, for example, the aid that is coming through U.N. agencies and their partners, these agencies are cooperating and listening to the Sudanese Armed Forces, although since the coup of 2021, this is not a legitimate government of Sudan. We’ve been suspended from the AU after the coup, and the situation has not been rectified. We’re still, quote-unquote, “governed” by this military government. But somehow, for some reason, the U.N. still insists that if the SAF, the Sudanese Armed Forces, refuses for things to cross from their controlled areas to RSF-controlled areas, then we will not do that.

And we’ve been seeing also that pattern of legitimizing the government happening on the pressures that are also happening on the civil society, where even the civil society that is working cross-RSF– and SAF-controlled areas, that the U.N. agencies and other agencies that are supporting with the aid just lift their hands from the situation, so that they don’t get into conflict or are considered biased to the RSF or the SAF. This has been detrimental to the Sudanese people, that we are still waiting for the SAF or the RSF to figure out the situation with each other and figure out the situation of how we’re going to solve the issues that the people are facing, whether it’s the hunger or the violence that is being faced. And I don’t think that will ever happen. If we keep waiting for the RSF and SAF to figure out the situation, then this will be just a catastrophe, a continuing catastrophe, for the Sudanese people.

AMY GOODMAN: And, Marine Alneel, the talks that are scheduled between the two sides in Geneva that the U.S. officials would mediate, set for August 14th, do you hold out hope for this Geneva meeting?

MARINE ALNEEL: I personally do not hold any hope for this meeting. I think it’s been a waste of our time and efforts as Sudanese people to keep focusing on RSF and SAF and their leaders. It is not news that the paramilitary forces, the Rapid Support Forces, that were created by the Sudanese government to conduct, commit the genocide of Darfur, that they’re continuing to commit that in different regions of the country. That is not news. And it is not news that the SAF, that the army that was established by the colonial forces, continues to be aligned to other forces. It’s not even clear right now —

AMY GOODMAN: Marine, we just have 30 seconds. What do you think needs to happen?

MARINE ALNEEL: I think what needs to happen is for the international community to pay attention to the Sudanese people and not the two warring parties. It is important to understand that what matters now is for people to eat, for people to live safely, and that is not going to happen through the work and effort of the same ones who are killing us and causing us to starve.

AMY GOODMAN: Marine Alneel, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Sudanese activist, joining us from Nairobi, Kenya.

That does it for our show. Democracy Now! is produced by a remarkable team of people. I thank everyone. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.