Sudan’s warring sides target volunteers fighting famine

Local volunteers in Sudan struggle to provide aid amid hunger crisis as attacks by opposing sides escalate.

Attacks by opposing sides in Sudan are making it difficult to provide life-saving aid amid a huge hunger crisis, said local volunteers who have helped to feed the African countries most destitute during 17 months of war.

Many volunteers have fled under threat of arrest or violence, and communal kitchens they set up in a country where hundreds are estimated to be dying of starvation and hunger-related diseases each day have stopped serving meals for weeks at a time.

Millions of people have driven from their homes in Sudan since fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In the worst-hit areas, residents displaced by fighting or under siege in their homes have resorted to eating dirt and leaves.

International humanitarian agencies, which have been unable to get food aid to parts of Sudan at risk of famine, have ramped up support for such volunteer groups. But that has made them more of a target for RSF looters, 10 of the volunteers said.

“We were safe when the RSF did not know about the funding,” said Gihad Salaheldin, a volunteer who left Khartoum city last year and spoke from Cairo. “They see our kitchens as a source of food.”

Both sides have also attacked or detained volunteers on suspicion of collaborating with their opponents, a dozen volunteers said.