Sudan, ravaged by war, is at risk of becoming a failed state as civil society collapses amidst the rise of armed factions, warned the leader of a prominent international aid organization in an interview with the BBC.

0

In addition to the primary warring factions—the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces—numerous smaller "ethnic militias" are looting and wreaking havoc on civilians, according to Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)."The parties are tearing down their own houses, they are massacring their own people," he said.

1

For the last 19 months, Sudan has been caught in a fierce conflict between the army and the RSF, forcing more than 10 million people to flee their homes and bringing the country to the edge of famine."All that I saw confirms that this is indeed the biggest humanitarian emergency on our watch, the biggest hunger crisis, the biggest displacement crisis," Mr Egeland said, following a trip to Sudan.

2

In September, the World Health Organization (WHO) said starvation in Sudan "is almost everywhere".Soup kitchens have been forced to close due to being underfunded. Egeland said the lack of humanitarian response meant remaining sources of aid are simply "delaying deaths instead of preventing them.”"Most of Sudan is starving, it's starving," he said, adding that starvation has been used as a method of warfare.

3

Some food security specialists fear that as many as 2.5 million people could die from hunger by the end of this year.Mr Egeland warned that the world is "failing Sudan completely" by not doing enough.He told the BBC if Europe wanted to avoid a refugee crisis, it needed to invest in "aid, protection and peace in this corner of the world"."It's an underfunded operation, even though it's the world's biggest emergency," he said.

4

Since the outbreak of civil war, thousands have lost their lives, and human rights organizations have raised alarms over the possibility of ethnic cleansing and genocide in Sudan.Despite ongoing efforts, peace negotiations between the RSF and the army have yielded no results."The war will stop when these warlords feel they have more to lose by continuing fighting, than by doing the sensible thing" Egeland said.

5