Drought situation “fast approaching critical” - UNICEF

The situation in Sudan’s drought belt is “fast approaching that of the mid-80s and early-90s when water, food and pasture shortages in the drought belt led to a great number of deaths of people and livestock, large-scale [population] displacements and tribal conflicts,” according to a UNICEF donor update. The drought situation has already worsened particularly in the drought belt areas of western, central and southern Sudan, but April-September would be the worst period, UNICEF reported on 4 May. Most seasonal streams and hafir dams [surface water reservoirs] had dried up, food supplies were running out and diseases were spreading due to contamination by livestock of water sources, it said, adding that some 600,000 people were at risk of starvation. In Western Darfur State (among the worst affected areas, along with Northern Darfur and Kordofan states), the price of sorghum, a staple grain, was two to three times its normal price at this time of year, it added. The government has now recognised the existence of a crisis, but there is concern over the inadequacy of information on drought requirements and on the authorities’ plans to respond, according to humanitarian sources.

The estimated food requirement to address the drought situation in Darfur and Kordofan alone is almost 48,000 mt, but food stocks are running low and the UN agencies’ consolidated appeal for some US 194 million is just 21 percent funded so far, according to humanitarian sources. The duration of the humanitarian emergency in Sudan and uncertainty about the exact situation and needs of the country may be among the reasons for donors’ apparent reluctance to commit funding even in the face of a new crisis, they added.

Meanwhile, armed conflict remained a key impediment to improving the situation of women and children in Sudan, and children would continue to be deprived until agreement was reached to end Sudan’s main conflict - between the government and the southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) - and the various tertiary conflicts, UNICEF reported on 4 May. Vaccine-preventable diseases remained a threat, with immunisation cover around 40 percent nationwide, but much lower in some states, such as Western Darfur, where it stands at only 8 percent. “Until such time as accord is reached to end the main conflict and secondary/tertiary conflicts among the numerous warring groups, children in Sudan will continue to be deprived of their basic rights to health, education and other services,” the UN children’s agency added.