ASMA KHALID, HOST:
In Sudan, the severity of the famine has worsened. Hunger experts say the country is experiencing one of the worst starvation crises in modern times. Since April of last year, a brutal civil war between the Sudanese Army and a paramilitary group has fueled a near-unprecedented humanitarian crisis. NPR's West Africa correspondent, Emmanuel Akinwotu, has been covering this and joins us now. Good morning, Emmanuel.
EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: Good morning, Asma.
KHALID: And a Merry Christmas to you.
AKINWOTU: Merry Christmas to you.
KHALID: So earlier this year, famine was declared in one part of Sudan, but it's now spread to five areas. What do we know so far?
AKINWOTU: Yes, in August, famine was declared in what's the largest refugee camp in Sudan, in the western region of Darfur. But now it's been confirmed in three other refugee camps in the same proximity. And overall, it's now five areas in Sudan, affecting about half a million people and counting. And over the last week, I've spoken to experts about just what this famine looks like on the ground, just to make sense of it. And one of them is Nathaniel Raymond. He's the executive director at Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab. And he talked about Zamzam camp, the first region where famine was declared.
NATHANIEL RAYMOND: Zamzam is in a condition called IPC 5, or Integrated Phase Classification 5, which is the highest level of food insecurity. And children, in particular, have been dying from a lack of food. People are eating peanut shells, animal fodder, grasses.
AKINWOTU: The level of desperation is unprecedented in Sudan. And the number of areas suffering famine is likely to actually double over the next six months.
KHALID: We were mentioning this ongoing civil war. How has the war made the humanitarian crisis more severe?
AKINWOTU: Well, both sides of the war have been accused of blocking aid in the areas that they each control. And that's the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. I mean, for example, the RSF control most of Darfur. And that's the region where there was a genocide 20 years ago, and there's been an outbreak of similar ethnic violence against African ethnic groups since the war started. There are millions of displaced people in this region, but they're almost completely isolated. I spoke to Azadeh Hassani. She's a director at Relief International. And they're one of the few aid groups still operating in Darfur, particularly in North Darfur, which is currently under a siege by the RSF.
AZADEH HASSANI: To get supplies to North Darfur has been a huge challenge. Since the conflict started, North Darfur has been completely cut off, and we lost all our access from inside Sudan.
AKINWOTU: So there are no official humanitarian corridors that the RSF and the Sudanese Army have agreed on. And there's been really small amounts of aid coming in from the border with Chad, but the conflict makes getting that aid in so precarious.
KHALID: How have the Sudanese authorities responded?
AKINWOTU: Well, essentially with denials. The Sudanese Army is seen by most people as the de facto government in Sudan, although they've lost control of large parts of the country. But the existence of famine is really a direct challenge to its legitimacy because people will hold them accountable for why this has been allowed to happen. Famine is declared by this independent body called the Integrated Food Security Phase - our IPC. And they rely on countries to support their networks, and Sudan has now pulled out of that system.
KHALID: That's NPR's West Africa correspondent, Emmanuel Akinwotu. Thanks so much.
AKINWOTU: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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