Famine crisis worsens in Sudan's Darfur region as militants block aid

(MENAFN) U.S. officials have raised alarms about a severe famine spiraling out of control in a large camp for war-displaced individuals in Sudan's Darfur region. The dire situation has been exacerbated by militant groups obstructing aid deliveries. The current famine crisis threatens to surpass the devastation of the last major global famine 13 years ago. In response, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.N. World Food Programme, and other humanitarian organizations have intensified their appeals for a ceasefire and the facilitation of aid distribution throughout Sudan. International experts confirmed on Thursday that famine conditions in at least one of the three massive makeshift camps, which collectively house up to 600,000 displaced people, have escalated into a full-blown famine.

In a briefing on Friday, two U.S. officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, detailed their analysis of the unfolding crisis. This famine declaration is only the third in the 20-year history of the Famine Review Panel. The officials emphasized the severity of the situation, drawing parallels to the 2011 famine in Somalia, which claimed approximately 250,000 lives, half of whom were children under the age of five. The blockade of food and other essential aid by Sudan's warring factions in Zamzam camp has brought about the humanitarian community's worst fears, according to a U.S. official. The restriction of aid exacerbates the already critical conditions, highlighting the urgent need for international intervention and support to prevent a catastrophe of unprecedented scale. 

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