The United Nations warned on Friday that it had only received 12 percent of the $2.7 billion being sought for war-wracked Sudan, adding that "famine is closing in."
Tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced in Sudan since war broke out in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
"It is a catastrophically underfunded appeal," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told reporters.
"Without more resources coming in fast, humanitarian organisations won’t be able to scale up in time to stave off famine and prevent further deprivation," he said.
'Diseases are closing in'
"In Sudan, half of the population, 25 million people, needs humanitarian aid. Famine is closing in. Diseases are closing in. The fighting is closing in on civilians, especially in Darfur."
The United Nations has expressed growing concern in recent days over reports of heavy fighting in densely populated areas as the RSF seeks control of El-Fasher, the last major city in the western Darfur region not under its control.
"Now is the time for donors to make good on pledges made, step up and help us help Sudan and be part of changing the current trajectory that's leading towards the cliff's edge.
The UN said on Wednesday that the Sudanese people “are trapped in an inferno of brutal violence.”
'Horrific atrocities'
Sudan plunged into conflict in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum.
Fighting has spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas and the vast western Darfur region, and the U.N. says over 14,000 people have been killed and 33,000 injured.
The paramilitary forces, known as the RSF, have gained control of most of Darfur and are besieging the key city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the only capital they don’t hold.
Nkweta-Salami told a U.N. news conference that hostilities in El Fasher have been escalating, and clashes over the weekend and early this week caused dozens of casualties and displaced many more of the 800,000 people still in the city.
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