The world's attention briefly focused on Sudan last April when a fragile power-sharing agreement between the Sudanese National Army and Immediate Support Forces collapsed and civil war swept across Sudan. Since then, the brutal conflict has disappeared from the international agenda as quickly as it ravaged the country.
On April 15, exactly one year since the collapse of peace, a high-level meeting on Sudan will be held in Paris. This event, organized by France, Germany and the European Union, provides an important opportunity to bring this forgotten crisis back to the attention of the international community. World leaders must seize it.
The violence has killed thousands, displaced millions and triggered a humanitarian disaster that threatens export insecurity across this region of Africa. Sudan's implosion could spur rebellions across neighboring Sahel countries and leave a scar on the continent with a zone of instability stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea.
Tragic attacks against civilians are an alarming feature of this conflict. These include indiscriminate ethnically motivated killings in Darfur and widespread sexual violence against women and girls. Hunger is also widespread. These factors have combined to create the world's fastest growing displacement crisis and the largest displacement of children at an alarming rate and scale.
In less than a year, 8.5 million people have been forced from their homes, and as the situation worsens, more people are moving. Nearly two million people have fled across the border to escape the bloodshed, most to Chad, South Sudan and Egypt. More than half of those seeking shelter are children. Neighboring countries are reaching out to people in desperate situations, but some are already straining under the weight of their own humanitarian emergencies.
There is also a serious risk that the region could soon become the world's largest hunger crisis. Food prices in Sudan soared more than 110 percent by February, leaving nearly 18 million people suffering from severe hunger, nearly 7 million in South Sudan, and nearly 3 million in Chad, for a total of nearly 28 million people. facing the same fate.
Famine is a real and dangerous possibility within Sudan in the coming months. A significant number of people are experiencing emergency levels of food insecurity, effectively on the verge of starvation, and 90 per cent of them are trapped in areas with little access to humanitarian agencies. These include conflict hotspots such as Khartoum, Gezira, Kordofan, and Darfur states.
Above all, the children of Sudan are feeling the cruel effects of this war. For example, six-year-old Fatima, who fled with her family from fighting in Khartoum and then from Gezira to Kassala twice, is desperate for home, school, and peace. .
She is one of nearly 5 million children who have been forced to evacuate, and 19 million children who are unable to receive an education due to school closures, unpaid teachers, and insufficient school funding. The effects of these destroyed futures will be felt for a generation.
The international community must act now to avert a looming regional disaster.
First, there needs to be a coordinated effort to ensure unimpeded humanitarian access and protection of civilians in Sudan. This includes local volunteer organizations and women's groups that support victims of sexual violence who are themselves targets.
Despite recent UN Security Council resolutions calling for unrestricted humanitarian access, no real progress has yet been made on the ground. Efforts to deliver relief supplies to people in need across borders and fronts continue to face obstacles. Meanwhile, humanitarian supplies and teams have been exposed to looting and attacks.
We must provide free access for all parties and open all borders, especially those to Darfur and Kordofan. Creating an environment in which aid agencies can operate effectively is now a humanitarian imperative.
Second, the spiraling crisis requires an emergency response with adequate funding. Despite huge needs, a $2.7 billion joint humanitarian appeal to Sudan aimed at providing life-saving assistance to nearly 15 million people has only been 6% funded.
Additional resources are equally important to support refugees and returnees currently in neighboring countries. In South Sudan, three million people are currently suffering from severe hunger and are not receiving food aid due to a lack of funding. Meanwhile, in Chad, only an emergency cash injection can prevent all of the country's 1.2 million refugees and nearly 3 million Chadians from going without food later this month.
These are all extremely vulnerable people who need international support and protection, and while our teams have access to them, we can no longer afford to help them. If these cuts are allowed to proceed, the resulting spike in hunger will only cause further suffering to those who have already lost so much, and will accelerate the region's slide into instability and chaos. It will be.
A predictable consequence of continued funding shortfalls in countries on the front lines of accepting refugees is that more people will be forced to move, including attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing.
Finally, and fundamentally, this forgotten crisis requires a sustainable political solution to end the fighting that is tearing Sudan apart and destabilizing neighboring countries.
The Paris conference is an important opportunity to launch a new diplomatic effort aimed at ending violence, averting famine and restoring the fragile balance in the wider region. We urge the international community not to let it go to waste.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.