Sudan: Briefing under the “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict” Agenda Item
On Monday morning (6 January), the Security Council will hold a briefing on food insecurity in Sudan under the “Protection of civilians in armed conflict” agenda item. The expected briefers are Director of the Operations and Advocacy Division at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Edem Wosornu and Deputy Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Beth Bechdol. The meeting was requested by the UK (the penholder on Sudan), together with Guyana and Slovenia (the Council’s informal co-focal points on conflict and hunger), and supported by Denmark and Sierra Leone. Sudan is expected to participate under rule 37 of the Council’s provisional rules of procedure.
The likely focus of the meeting is the 24 December 2024 report of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee (FRC), which provides an in-depth analysis of food insecurity levels in the country. The report “finds famine in at least five areas of Sudan for which reliable data exists”. In this regard, it confirms that, during the period between October and November 2024, famine conditions in the Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Darfur, identified in the FRC’s 1 August 2024 report, have persisted and expanded to other sites in North Darfur, namely the Al Salam and Abu Shouk IDP camps, as well as to the Western Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state. The report projects famine conditions in five more areas between December 2024 and May, with a confirmed risk of famine in 17 additional areas during the same projection period. (According to the IPC, famine exists in “areas where at least one in five households has or is most likely to have an extreme deprivation of food”. In such situations, “starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition are or will likely be evident”.)
The report notes that some conflict-affected areas in Khartoum and Al Jazirah state might be experiencing conditions similar to the areas classified as facing famine. However, due to lack of recent data on whether famine thresholds have been surpassed, the FRC was unable to classify these areas as experiencing famine. (For more information on the food insecurity situation in Sudan, see our 19 March 2024 and 5 August 2024 What’s in Blue stories.)
At Monday’s meeting, the briefers may describe how the war in Sudan is driving a food crisis. They might stress the need to address the underlying drivers of food insecurity in Sudan, including conflict, displacement, and limited humanitarian access. Since the conflict began in April 2023, it has triggered a devastating humanitarian crisis, marked by significant civilian casualties, mass displacement, acute food and water shortages, and the collapse of healthcare and essential services. Across the country, around 24.6 million people are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity—described by the IPC as crisis level conditions or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above)—between December 2024 and May. The war has displaced over 12 million people, approximately 3.2 million of whom have sought refuge in Sudan’s neighbouring countries—the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and Uganda—making it the world’s largest displacement crisis. (For background and more information, see the brief on Sudan in our December 2024 Monthly Forecast.)
Since early April 2024, El Fasher has been a major flashpoint in the conflict, where the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have maintained a prolonged siege. In her remarks at a 19 December 2024 Council meeting on Sudan, Wosornu highlighted reports of repeated shelling on the Zamzam IDP camp, largely attributed to the RSF, which has forced thousands to flee. She also referenced reports of civilian casualties in El Fasher and other parts of Darfur from indiscriminate attacks, including aerial bombardments and artillery shelling. At Monday’s meeting, Wosornu might further describe the details of fighting and resulting consequences for civilians in this area and the challenges faced by humanitarian actors in providing aid to affected populations.
Council members might reiterate their long-standing call on the warring parties to immediately cease hostilities and re-commit to negotiations. Some may call on member states to refrain from external interference in Sudan, which is instigating conflict and instability, and to instead support mediation efforts for a durable peace. In light of the FRC’s alarming findings and dire humanitarian situation, several members, including the “A3 plus” members (Algeria, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Guyana) might underscore the urgent need for the international community to act to alleviate the suffering of millions in Sudan. Members are also likely to condemn the indiscriminate killing of civilians and stress the need to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including healthcare facilities, as well as medical and humanitarian personnel. In this regard, some members might highlight the 19 December 2024 attack on a World Food Programme (WFP) compound in Yabus, Blue Nile state, which killed three WFP staff members.
The briefers and several Council members are expected to highlight the impediments to the delivery of aid and underline the importance of ensuring full and rapid humanitarian access through all modalities—including cross-line (across conflict lines within Sudan) and cross-border (across Sudan’s borders with some of its neighbouring countries). The FRC’s 24 December 2024 report describes severe restrictions on humanitarian access due to insecurity, administrative barriers, and poor road conditions, which make logistics costly and inflexible. It notes that assistance efforts are further constrained by bureaucratic requirements and approval processes imposed by the parties to the conflict. While cross-border humanitarian operations have continued via Chad and South Sudan, the report says that there are no viable roads from eastern and central areas controlled by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) to the RSF-controlled western states, hampering distribution of humanitarian assistance.
Speakers may reiterate some of the recommendations outlined in the FRC’s 24 December 2024 report, such as the urgent need for political action by all influential stakeholders to secure a sustainable ceasefire, the immediate scaling up of assistance across all sectors, and focused support for displaced populations and host households to prevent widespread loss of life. They might underline the need for enhanced funding to support humanitarian efforts in Sudan, including famine prevention and response operations. The 2025 Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan is seeking $4.2 billion to deliver lifesaving aid to almost 21 million vulnerable people, restore basic services, and scale up protection.
Some Council members might call for immediate measures to address the current food insecurity situation and action to prevent its spread to other areas of Sudan, particularly those at heightened risk of famine. Several members are expected to recall that resolution 2417 of 24 May 2018 calls on all parties to armed conflict to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law regarding the protection of civilians, underlines their responsibility to protect objects indispensable for food production and distribution, and prohibits the use of starvation as a method of warfare.
Council members are likely to present differing views on how to characterise the food insecurity situation in the country. Previously, Russia has criticised the FRC for ignoring the views of the authorities in Port Sudan on the food insecurity situation and raised questions about the methodology used to collect the data and the FRC’s access to the affected areas. It might use the opportunity of Monday’s meeting to highlight efforts undertaken by the Sudanese central authorities to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The Sudanese central authorities have rejected the findings of the FRC’s 24 December 2024 report, calling it speculative and lacking field data. In light of this, some members may urge the authorities to respect the FRC’s findings and to cooperate with relevant agencies to facilitate humanitarian assistance efforts.
During the negotiations on a draft resolution on the protection of civilians in Sudan co-authored by the UK and Sierra Leone, which Russia vetoed on 18 November 2024, several delegations—such as France, the Republic of Korea (ROK), Slovenia, Switzerland (elected Council member in 2023-24), and the US—apparently supported language which would have highlighted the risk of famine and specified existing famine conditions in the Zamzam IDP camp. However, objections from certain members, including Russia, led the co-penholders to revise the language in the operative paragraphs of the final draft to “already acute food insecurity”. (For more information, see our 17 November 2024 What’s in Blue story.)
