More than half of Sudan needs humanitarian aid: NGO chief

More than half of Sudan's population is in need of humanitarian aid, the head of the Danish Refugee Council told AFP, as fighting ravages the northeast African nation.

Since breaking out in April 2023, the war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 12 million and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

"We see a situation where more than 30 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. That is half of the population of Sudan," Danish Refugee Council Secretary General Charlotte Slente told AFP by phone this week after a visit to a border region in neighbouring Chad.

"The suffering we see is unimaginable."

Sudan had a population of around 50 million people in 2024, according to the World Bank.

The aid official's comments came after a field visit to an area in Chad that borders Sudan's western Darfur region, which has seen fierce fighting of late.

Violence has escalated dramatically in recent weeks, with the RSF seizing control of the key town of El-Fasher the army's last stronghold in Darfur after an 18-month siege and reports of atrocities multiplying.

"There are violations that cross all international humanitarian laws," she added.

Slente said the NGO had seen evidence of mass killings and sexual violence in Sudan.

"We see detentions, we see abductions, forced displacement and torture," she said.

She accused the international community of not doing enough.

"Statements have a very limited impact both on the ongoing humanitarian needs on the ground, and they have not been able to stop the violence," she said.

She warned that there were other cities still under siege that were not receiving the same level of attention.

The town of Babanusa, the last army stronghold in West Kordofan state, has been under siege for several months, as have North Kordofan state capital El-Obeid and South Kordofan's Kadugli and Dilling.

"The international community must stop managing the consequences of this conflict and must start preventing the atrocities," said Slente.