Donors have responded generously to boost global resilience to food shortages, but today’s numbers are daunting: more hungry people in more countries. The war in Sudan is just the latest surprise.
In the weeks since fighting erupted in Sudan, ever larger groups of women and children have been fleeing across the border into Chad, seeking food and safety.
Chadians and international relief organizations already on-site to address Chad’s own food shortfalls have been doing what they can to feed and shelter the refugees – even if that means only a watery bowl of porridge and a bedsheet tied to tree branches.
And as the war rages on, the scene in Chad is being repeated in many of Sudan’s other neighbors, as refugees pour into Horn of Africa nations already facing rising hunger as a result of conflict, drought, and economic turmoil.
The lengthening lines of refugees illustrate how Sudan’s war – a surprise to most of the world when the armed forces and a powerful paramilitary organization began fighting in the capital Khartoum a month ago – is adding to the rising numbers of acutely hungry people around the world.
