A Critical Review Of Reports Claiming The Spreading Of Famine In Sudan

(MENAFN- Sudanow Magazine) By: Rogia al-Shafee

Port Sudan (Sudanow) - At a time the conflict between the Sudanese armed forces and the rebel militia is escalating and while the Sudanese Armed Forces and the forces supporting them are making progress and scoring victories on various fronts, other challenges related to psychological and media warfare are emerging.
These take the form of reports from international bodies claiming that Sudan has been facing a famine that threatens its food security.
To double check the size of these attempts, their dimensions and the consequences, (Sudanow) called on Agriculture Engineer Ammar Hassan Bashir Abdullah at the Food Security Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, who is also the founder of the Food Security Network (Sudan) to discuss Sudan's position regarding the IPC report, which claimed that Sudan suffers critical levels of hunger and food insecurity.
Agriculture Engineer Ammar told us that that the Integrated Phase Classification of Humanitarian Food Security, is one of the mechanisms of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to measure and evaluate food security conditions in a country. Now these mechanisms relay on a number of indicators and draw a staged map. This map uses colors and is graded in the order of presenting conditions according to the information for each stage. In the end, a map is drawn with colors to provide an integrated classification of the stages of food security.
He explained that this particular mechanism requires a strong information base so that it can provide information for each stage. However, this said agency failed to follow these stages and has based its report on personal information.
But what it should have done, in order to claim that there is a famine in any area, is to obtain information from the organization's teams already present in field in those areas.
In the event that sufficient information is not available, these teams meet and assess the situation and then choose the appropriate situation in the event of the absence or non-availability of information.
“Therefore, this report was clearly criticized by experts, even those who were part of the team that worked to draft it, and they doubted its validity and described it as inaccurate because it was not based on genuine and factual information” Agriculture Engineer Ammar argued.
He added that Sudan's position regarding this mechanism was clear, pointing to the statement made by the Minister of Agriculture before the press conference organized by the Sudan News Agency (SUNA) in Port Sudan, when he announced that the report contained misleading figures as it claimed that 25 million Sudanese people are expected to experience some level of famine.
The Agriculture Engineer stated that this report, which was rejected due to lack of factual genuine and real information resulting from a field surveys, did not take into account what is known as (community support), which means that there are social aspects that the report did not take into consideration the negative effects of war and social norms that can absorb those negative effects, such as the displacement of many Sudanese families to safe states where they stayed with their relatives, families and friends, where they found water, housing and food.
“This value was lacking in the report in its last assessment, on which many organizations based their position that Sudan is exposed to famine, that would afflict more than 25 million people representing half of the population of Sudan” he told Sudanow.
Ammar added that despite this, Sudan remains an ally of the international community and cooperates with it to a large extent and is present in the international environment represented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and organizations related to food.
The Agriculture Engineer stressed that notwithstanding this membership in world organizations, the Sudan has the right to reject or adopt whatever reports it wants in a way that may not affect its sovereignty, as it is a state like all countries in the world that exercises its sovereignty and extends it over its geographical area.
He said a country's sovereignty represents a red line that cannot be compromised and no one is allowed to cross. He cautioned that“some international community agencies conspiring against Sudan will continue to search for mechanisms that they see as an opportunity to intervene in the domestic affairs of the country by supplying the enemy with weapons and providing support, under the pretext that only those people living in rebel areas need relief, and that the areas controlled by the rebellion are the ones exposed to food gaps, and that the demand to open crossings points for humanitarian aid to reach those affected is nothing but a pretext used by the rebellion and its supporters from neighboring countries and other countries, to deliver military and logistical aid to the enemy that is fighting the Sudanese state and the Sudanese citizen.
He said this was why Sudanese experts are agreed to reject such reports, out of the principle that“Sudan should exercises its sovereignty over its territories and this is a matter that cannot be compromised, given the fact that Sudan has opened all land and air crossings for the delivery of humanitarian aid.”
He also said they referred to the fact that people nowadays are moving from the rebel areas to the zones controlled by the army, freely.
Ammar pointed out that“to confront the circumstances we are going through now, it is necessary to work on creating a strong, modern and secure strategic stockpile as one of the basic pillars in providing food in the face of wars, conflicts and natural disasters such as floods and torrents, through supporting production in safe areas and improving infrastructure in the long term, in addition to employing and regulating donations and aid”
He said organizations and donors should be constantly monitored through the Humanitarian Aid Commission as the only official body responsible for the work of the organizations.
Engineer Ammar has meanwhile stressed that Sudanese people should pay attention and be careful about dealing with content circulated by foreign media outlets that promote rumors of a famine in the country and people should also avoid disseminating and transmitting such content.
“People should scrutinize and examine anything delivered to them before embracing it.” He concluded.

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