Many volunteers fled in fear of threats of arrest or violence, and it stopped Charity kitchens (Known in Sudan as Hospices) which they set up in some of the most distressed areas without providing meals for weeks at a time.
Estimates indicate that hundreds of people die every day from hunger and hunger-related diseases Sudan.
Reuters spoke with 24 volunteers who run kitchens in the state Khartoum And Darfur in the west, and parts of the east, where millions have fled their homes and lost their livelihoods since the outbreak of fighting between Sudanese army And troops Fast support.
International humanitarian organizations intensified their support for volunteers because they were unable to deliver food aid to areas of the country at risk of famine. But 10 volunteers told Reuters by phone that this made them more vulnerable to looting.
Many kitchens do not document the attacks, while others refuse to provide details for fear of attracting unwanted attention. However, volunteers described to Reuters 25 incidents in which their kitchens or volunteers in the state were targeted since July, including more thefts, beatings and detentions.
Rogue elements
United Nations officials say that more than half of Sudan’s population, 25.6 million people, suffer from acute hunger and need urgent aid. In the most devastated areas, residents displaced by the fighting or trapped in their homes resorted to eating grass and tree leaves.
Local volunteers set up hundreds of kitchens early in the war, which served hot meals once or twice a day, usually consisting of sorghum porridge, lentils or beans. But as food prices rise and private donations decline, some have been forced to stop or reduce services to just five times a month.
And in North Darfur StateA group running kitchens in a camp housing half a million people displaced by ethnic violence had to stop serving meals several times due to insufficient funding, a volunteer there said.
In August, a global body on hunger crises said in August that conflict and restrictions on aid delivery had caused famine in Zamzam camp.
Emergency rooms
Emergency Rooms, a vast network of community groups, runs many charity kitchens and has tried to keep basic services such as water, electricity, food distribution and medical supplies running.
In areas controlled by the military, six volunteers described arrests and surveillance that they said discouraged people who were helping to run kitchens from continuing this task, reducing their ability to work.
A United Nations fact-finding mission found that out of 65 cases examined by courts set up by the military for what it said were “commanders and employees” of the Rapid Support Forces as of June, 63 cases targeted activists and humanitarian workers. The mission said in its report that among them were members of chambers. Emergency.
The two warring parties exchanged accusations of delaying the delivery of food relief supplies, while the Rapid Support Forces denied looting the aid.
The Sudanese Army Commander, Lieutenant General, said Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan Commander of the Rapid Support Forces Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo (Hemedti) said in September that they are committed to facilitating the flow of aid.
Donor reluctance
Abdullah Qamar, one of the organizers in Khartoum State, said that with the spread of hunger, it was established Emergency rooms 419 kitchens with the aim of serving more than a million people daily in the state alone. But volunteers struggle to secure the $1.175 million needed each month. Qamar told Reuters that in September they received about $614,000.
Qamar reported that most of the support initially came from Sudanese expatriates, but the resources of these donors dried up.
Aid workers noted that many foreign donors are reluctant to fund the kitchens because the groups that run them are not registered with the government and often use personal bank accounts.
“There is a lot of risk aversion when it comes to supporting unregistered programmes,” said Mathilde Vaux, Sudan Affairs Officer at the Norwegian Refugee Council.
She added that the council began supporting local agencies providing aid to Sudan last year. “Now we see that many NGOs, UN agencies and donors are beginning to realize that we cannot provide any humanitarian response – that is, we cannot save lives – without them,” she said.
Some donors now work through registered intermediaries to obtain funding for charity kitchens. For example, the World Food Program began partnering with local aid groups in July to help about 200 kitchens provide hot meals to up to 175,000 people daily in the greater Khartoum area, spending more than $2 million so far, the WFP spokeswoman said. In Sudan.
Volunteers welcomed the support, but said it could take weeks for the money to reach the kitchens through intermediaries. They said burdensome reporting requirements were adding to the delay.
“Kitchens work intermittently, there is no stable funding,” said Mohamed Abdullah, spokesman for the emergency room in south Khartoum. He said the emergency room sometimes only has enough to provide meals once a week, including in neighborhoods at risk of famine.
President Justin Brady said United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in SudanDonors need assurance that funds are used for their intended purpose, but they have taken steps to simplify the process.
At the same time, needs are increasing.
The volunteers said that the arrival of the rainy season during the summer caused sudden floods and increased the risk of contracting fatal diseases, including Cholera andMalarialeading to a greater drain on resources.
The value of the Sudanese pound has fallen by 300 percent against the dollar in the parallel market since the beginning of the war, and food prices have risen by approximately the same percentage, according to World Food Program surveys.
“In neighborhoods where we had one kitchen, we now need three more,” said Hend Latif, a spokeswoman for volunteers in the East Nile region adjacent to the city of Bahri, where she said many people die of hunger every month. “And as the war continues, we will see more people.” They hit rock bottom.”
In one Bahri neighborhood, people line up twice a day carrying bowls to collect scoops of porridge prepared over a fire in the courtyard of a volunteer’s home. Among them stand teachers, merchants and others whose livelihoods have been cut off.
A 50-year-old housewife, who asked that her name not be published like others interviewed for security reasons, said, “We don’t have any food at home because we don’t have money. We depend on the kitchen… We have no alternative.”
