Transcript of remarks to the press by Ramesh Rajasingham, Director of Coordination Division, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Joint launch of the Revised Humanitarian Response Plan 2023 and Regional Refugee Response Plan for Sudan

Geneva, 17 May 2023

The conflict that erupted on 15 April in Sudan has killed hundreds of people, injured more than 5,000, and millions more have been confined to their homes, unable to access basic services and essential health care.
Nearly a million people have been displaced, many across borders to neighbouring countries.

Today, 25 million people – more than half the population of Sudan – need humanitarian aid and protection.
This is the highest number we have ever seen in the country.

The response plan we are launching today reflects that new reality. Through the plan, which is a revised version of the annual Humanitarian Response Plan for 2023, we aim to reach 18 million people.

The funding requirements of nearly $2.6 billion is also the highest for any humanitarian appeal for Sudan.
We launch it together with the refugee response plan that my UNHCR [UN Refugee Agency] colleague, Mr. [Raouf] Mazou, will speak to, because the crisis in Sudan is rapidly evolving into a regional crisis.

The needs in Sudan are fundamental and widespread as you can expect from a conflict: protection from fighting, medical support, food and water, sanitation, shelter and trauma care.

And we are also receiving worrying reports of increased sexual violence while the victims have little access to help.
Children are especially vulnerable in this chaos that is unfolding.

At the same time, we, the humanitarian community, have suffered great setbacks in the operational environment particularly in and around Khartoum and Darfur. Aid workers have been killed, our offices and stockpiles looted, and 60 percent of health facilities in affected areas are out of action for various reasons, including the current fighting.

Some front-line responders and civil society groups have continued bravely to provide life-saving medical services where possible, and I applaud their courage. We have now been able to make other progress in recent days, for example:

The World Health Organization has delivered 30 tons of medical supplies to Aj Jazirah state, just in the south-east of Khartoum.

Trauma supplies to treat 2,400 people were delivered to five hospitals in that state, and to three hospitals in Khartoum.
Humanitarian partners are also resuming operations in some Darfur states.

In North Darfur, the UN Children’s Fund is supporting water trucking to care facilities and distributing sanitation and health supplies.

And in Eastern Darfur, UNICEF has provided clean water to some 40,000 people in the Elneem camp for internally displaced persons.

But much more needs to be done.

When Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths was in Port Sudan recently - and he spoke to you from there - he stressed that two things were critical: To get commitment from the parties to facilitate aid, and to have the aid pipeline funded.

Last week, we welcomed the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment from the parties. That was a first good step towards access and protection of civilians. The next step starts today, where we present our plans and call for the resources necessary to deliver for the people of Sudan.

Kuwait News Agency: The question is related to the donor countries, are you in contact already with some donor countries or a specific group like the EU, the Gulf countries, for example, or is it an open appeal and first come, first served?

Ramesh Rajasingham: Like in any crisis of this sort, we are in contact, as Raouf [Mazou] just mentioned, from the very beginning with donors because it is instrumental that their funding comes as early as possible to assist lifesaving operations.

Al Mayadeen: Is there a risk of famine in Sudan today?

Mr. Rajasingham: As you know, in the whole of the eastern Africa we have seen year after year of poor rains and so the level of those people in IPC three, four and five, which is the measurement of food insecurity, has increased. And we're seeing record numbers throughout the globe this year. So when you have a crisis like this, and you don't have access to basic services, you don't have access to health and water, there is an enormous risk that there will be an increased risk of famine as well.

EFE: Since last week when the parties committed to facilitate the access and delivery of aid to the people, what has happened on the field? Is this access happening? Are things better? Are the aid organizations able now to distribute aid? Because we know that fights are very heavy in Khartoum, for example, and other places. So how is this all happening? And related to this, if you can say, if you know, how many people left Khartoum since the conflict began, thank you.

Mr. Rajasingham: The commitment that was made by the parties recently in Jeddah is absolutely necessary. But we also must underline here that throughout the crisis many organizations, and these are primarily frontline responders who are Sudanese organizations themselves, have continued as best as possible to provide assistance. But since then, as I mentioned, WHO has delivered significant quantities of health and medical supplies to Sudan.
UNICEF has also started operations in Darfur, as I mentioned, but we do need to scale up and obviously we do need continued security and safety for our operations to be able to continue in both Darfur, Khartoum and all the affected areas. As imperative that the commitments are to adhere to, they are also built on to provide a longer term ceasefire so that these populations can return to some degree of normalcy.

DPA: I think at the end of last year, there had already been an aid appeal for Sudan. So my question is, to what extent is this current appeal funded? Or how big is the funding gap? Or have you been using all the funds that you had already now for the current crisis?

Mr. Rajasingham: That is an extremely good question, because funding is critical for the Sudan crisis, even before this recent conflict. As you know, we had asked for $1.75 billion for the original appeal for 2023. This has now increased to $2.6 billion. We have the number of people that we are targeting, it has gone from over 12 million to 18 million people, that is an increase of almost 6 million people. The number of people in need is at 25 million. So, you can imagine the needs have expanded drastically and throughout the country. Funding levels, however, as we have seen for many crises around the world in the last couple of years, have been poor and Sudan is no exception. But we really do hope that the donors will step forward for this particular crisis, because as you can see, it is one of the worst ones that we are experiencing today. And millions have been affected by this fighting, without any access to basic services, especially health.

Associated Press: Given that some of the belligerents have taken to invading hospitals and taking over other civilian infrastructure, how concerned are you that the delivery of humanitarian aid might be jeopardized or might even be pilfered? I mean, how difficult does that make it for you to make your pitch to donors on the idea that in such a hot conflict that the humanitarian aid might just not reach the people that it needs to get to or might be pilfered? Thanks.

Mr. Rajasingham: At the beginning of the conflict, exactly as you mentioned, health facilities were occupied and as I mentioned, about 60 per cent of them in the affected areas were rendered out of action for various reasons during the conflict. We have also had some stockpiles looted as I mentioned, our offices have also been ransacked. But the Jeddah commitment, the Declaration of Commitment by the parties, specifically talks about ensuring that civilian and civilian infrastructure, civilian population and installations such as utilities, water, electricity, etcetera, are to be protected. And we are now seeing, in some cases, the pullback from some of these locations. So, we would obviously insist that the commitment, the Declaration of Commitment is adhered to by all the parties and ensure that all the local armed actors on the ground are also aware of their commitments to this. But we are also seeing as a result increased expansion of humanitarian systems. So that is a proof that we are indeed scaling up but we do need to do much more, with more resources as well.

EFE: From the answer that I got from my previous question, it is not clear to me if the access of humanitarian aid is better today than last week, and if the parties are honoring their commitments. If you can answer, please clarify this.

Mr. Rajasingham: Yes. So, as I as I mentioned, Isabel, WHO has just recently shipped tons of medical assistants to Aj Jazirah state which is just in the southeast of Khartoum, UNICEF have begun aid operations and operations have improved since last week. But this is something we need to see a much bigger improvement and a much bigger scale up. Access is important, security is important but also funding and resources are important. The capacity is there to provide assistance. We have the partnerships that we have developed over several years, good strong nongovernmental organizations as well. We do need resources and obviously we need to ensure that the Declaration of Commitment is adhered to throughout the country.