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00:00Well, as well as the conservative estimate of 20,000 killed in Sudan, the conflicts created
00:04the world's largest displacement crisis and ushered in the spectre of famine in North
00:09Darfur.
00:11But those working on the front line of these intersecting emergencies fear that there's
00:14not enough international understanding of the scope of all these crises.
00:18Earlier, I spoke to Barrett Alexander, program head in Sudan for Mercy Corps, and he told
00:23me about his understanding of what people needed most amidst the fighting.
00:29We recently released a report with the Danish Refugee Council and Norwegian Refugee Council
00:33that looked at the impact of the famine, particularly in harder-hit areas of IPC Phase 5, which
00:38is catastrophic hunger, in Darfur and Kordofan.
00:42And what we looked at was trying to get a bit beyond the numbers of the 755,000 people
00:46that are in catastrophic hunger.
00:49We found that parents were forgoing meals so that their children could eat, lactating
00:55mothers couldn't breastfeed their children because they have nutritional deficits based
01:00on skipping meals.
01:02We found that some women were engaging in transactional sex to be able to pay for food.
01:07And all of this paints a very, very grim picture of what the conflict is doing to the population
01:13there.
01:14This is why scaling up responses for multipurpose cash assistance for support to farmers is
01:19incredibly needed at this time.
01:21So what kind of impact do you think that the extension of sanctions as voted by the
01:26UNSC on Wednesday will have on the problems that you see as being at the top of the list?
01:33I think that the impact remains to be seen.
01:36But Mercy Corps supports international efforts through the UN Security Council to essentially
01:43put pressure on the warring parties to come to the peace table, to negotiate a ceasefire,
01:48to engage in dialogue around ending the conflict, to putting pressure on the parties to stop
01:55using hunger as a weapon of this war, and to open up humanitarian access to the largely
02:02affected populations, particularly North Darfur, Central South Darfur, the Kordofan regions
02:08that are hardest hit by the famine.
02:10What would you like to see more of in terms of support from the international community
02:16in tackling some of the devastation caused by the war?
02:20As you mentioned, the conflict in Sudan has been raging for over 500 days and yet there's
02:24very limited international attention or pressure on the conflict.
02:29This is why parties to the conflict continue to feel that they can act with impunity.
02:34We need the international actors to step up.
02:39Many of them, including European donors, made significant commitments, both financial and
02:43political, at the Paris conference earlier this year.
02:46We need to see those commitments realized, not just because funding lags for Sudan, but
02:52the political pressure that's needed for the protection of civilians, for humanitarian
02:56access, for our ability to be able to reach those that are the most vulnerable.
03:02And how have you been reaching those who are the most vulnerable?
03:05How do you feel about the work or the impact that you at Mercy Corps have been able to do so far?
03:10We've been able to most recently reach about 114,000 farmers with seeds and tools and training
03:18to be able to support them through this current lean season, current planting season, the
03:23upcoming winter harvest and planting season as well.
03:29And what we need is continued donor support for funding things like that.
03:32Otherwise, we will continue to see Sudan as a protracted conflict with limited humanitarian
03:39options to be able to dig the population out of the famine hole that they are in.