CONTENT WARNING: This story contains information about war and death. Consider reading it with a trusted adult. It’s common to have an emotional reaction to the news.
⭐️HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW⭐️
It’s been a year since a civil war broke out in Sudan, and the United Nations (UN) is saying the country faces one of the world’s most serious hunger crises.
On April 5, the UN said that it began distributing food in the country for the first time in months.
It also said that unless more aid arrives soon, things will take a turn for the worse.
Some Sudanese Canadians have said they are frustrated by delays in a program that was supposed to help their relatives flee to Canada.
Facing international pressure, Canada announced on Friday that it is committing another $132.2 million in international assistance funding. On Monday, other countries promised to increase support.
Last year, Sudan plunged into chaos when two powerful groups in the country started fighting in the capital city of Khartoum.
Sudan is a large country in northeastern Africa, with a population of about 45 million people. (Graphic design by Philip Street/CBC)
Those two groups are the country’s military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and an unofficial army called Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The battle began after years of unrest, conflict and a food crisis in the country.
At the time, Canada pulled Canadian workers out of the country and called for a ceasefire between the two groups.
In 2023, the Canadian government sent $170 million in aid for people fleeing Sudan and held meetings to help facilitate a solution to the conflict.
People who fled Sudan receive food rations at a UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) centre in south Sudan last year. The United Nations is warning that aid is urgently needed to continue to supply food to those affected by the war. (Image credit: Jok Solomun/Reuters)
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly visited Kenya to support neighbouring countries that were trying to push for peace.
Late last year, Canadian Immigration Minister Marc Miller also announced a program designed to help those fleeing Sudan to join relatives in Canada who could support them.
Thousands of people have been killed so far, according to reporting by the news agency Reuters, but exact death tolls are uncertain.
According to the UN, more than eight million people have been forced to leave their homes and find shelter or other places to live in Sudan or other countries.
In February, the UN reported that 18 million people in the country were acutely food insecure.
According to UNICEF, acute food insecurity is when a person’s inability to consume adequate food puts their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger.
“I fear that we will see unprecedented levels of starvation and malnutrition sweep across Sudan,” said the UN World Food Program’s director for Sudan, Eddie Rowe.
Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have fled to neighbouring countries to escape war that broke out in April 2023. (Image credit: Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters)
The UN appealed to countries around the world for $5.64 billion Cdn in aid for Sudan. As of last month, it said that only five per cent of that goal had been reached.
It warned that 220,000 kids could die of malnutrition in the coming months unless more aid is sent to the country.
On Friday, Canada announced it would send $132.2 million to the region, which will go towards health services and food and nutrition assistance, among other things.
Canada also participated in an international conference in Paris, France, on Monday.
At the end of the meeting, French President Emmanuel Macron announced world donors were pledging more than two billion Euros ($2.93 billion Cdn) in aid.
He did not specify when or how the money would be distributed.
Before the recent funding announcement, some Sudanese Canadians said that Canada had done little to stop the conflict in Sudan.
Sudanese Canadians have also said that the government’s reunification program isn’t working fast enough.
Miller, Canada’s immigration minister, said he doesn’t expect Sudanese relatives to arrive in Canada through the program until later this year or early in 2025.
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller announced late last year that people from Sudan looking to join their family members here in Canada won’t arrive until the end of 2024. (Image credit: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Sudanese Canadians also say the program is expensive and that obtaining items required by the program’s application process is challenging.
That includes, for example, paperwork that they say is impossible to gather from their relatives in a warzone.
The Canadian government said it has since tweaked certain parts of the program to make it easier, but Sudanese families say there are still big hurdles in the process.
Members of Canada’s New Democratic Party are also saying that Canada needs to be doing more to help those in Sudan.
“These people should be Canada’s priority — especially in instances where there are minor children who have been separated from their families,” said MP Heather McPherson in a letter to Liberal ministers in March.
Have more questions? Want to tell us how we’re doing? Use the “send us feedback” link below. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
With files from The Canadian Press, Reuters and The Associated Press
