On the threat of famine following the spread of conflict in Sudan

B90076/2024

Motion for a European Parliament resolution on the threat of famine following the spread of conflict in Sudan

(2024/2505(RSP))

The European Parliament,

− having regard to its previous resolutions on Sudan,

− having regard to Rules 144(5) and 132(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.whereas since hostilities began between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on April 2023, over 7.4 million people have been forcibly displaced within Sudan and beyond; whereas the majority of refugees are women and children, and it is the world’s greatest child displacement crisis;

B.whereas the latest violence has led to acute food shortages of food, safe water, medicines and fuel and increased price of essential items;

C.whereas according to World Food Programme (WFP), approximately 18 million people are facing acute hunger, among whom 5 million are at emergency levels of hunger and live in areas with constrained humanitarian access; whereas the right to food is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights;

D.whereas the conflict in central and eastern Sudan, which are essential areas for the country’s crop production, poses a significant threat to overall food availability; whereas the country shows the worst hunger level ever recorded during the harvest season;

E.whereas rotting crops and the looting of markets, machinery and warehouses are direct consequences of the conflict and hinder all agricultural activities and food security;

F.whereas RSF’s paramilitary fighters ransacked the WFP warehouse in Al-Jazira stealing life-saving food supplies for almost 1.5 million severely food-insecure people over one month;

G.whereas around 13.6 million children are in urgent need of life-saving humanitarian support; whereas women and girls are especially impacted by the conflict;

1.Urges all parties to promptly halt military activities, grant unrestricted humanitarian access, and resume discussions for a negotiated peace agreement; reiterates to all factions their obligations under international law;

2.Strongly condemns the persistent violence between both armed factions and the indiscriminate attacks against civilians; condemns the standing disregard for established humanitarian ceasefires, assaults on humanitarian organizations, their infrastructures and aid stocks;

3.Denounces the increasing evidence of military support by the United Arab Emirates to the RSF as well as the Egyptian military help to SAF; emphasizes the RSF's association with the Russian mercenary group Wagner;

4.Expresses deep concern over the conflict’s escalation into crucial grain-producing regions such as South Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Gadarif, leading to an overwhelming decline in agricultural activities and the risk of spillover to neighbouring countries due to an increase in refugee influx;

5.Calls on the Commission and Member States to ensure continued and increased funding and humanitarian assistance while reinforcing the humanitarian-development nexus to strengthen resilience through localised approaches;

6.Reiterates its call to the EU and its Member States to implement measures safeguarding human rights and to impose sanctions against individuals responsible for human rights violations through the EUGHSR mechanism.

7.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of Sudan, the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces, the African Union, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Pan-African Parliament.