This is a summary of what was said by UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing
“Thank you for joining us. I speak to you a day after leaving Darfur, following a mission that also took me to Khartoum.
“What I saw was alarming. Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. The conflict is escalating, and children are paying the highest price.
“Every day, violence is tearing communities apart. In Jebel Marrah, I spoke to women with their children fleeing the siege in Al Fasher, getting through a gauntlet of armed checkpoints and stripped of all their belongings and money, harassed and attacked, shattered and left with nothing.
“I heard harrowing accounts of families who had gone hungry for days.
“In Darfur and the Kordofans, severe acute malnutrition is soaring. 1.4 million children live in areas of famine or at risk of famine. Thousands will die without urgent treatment. In North Darfur alone this year, 150,000 children are likely to suffer severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form. In Tawila, cases have surged from hundreds to over 2,000 a month since April. Tawila being the main place that people fleeing Al Fasher have gathered.
“Parents told me their children have not seen a classroom for years. This is the reality for millions. A staggering 14 million children are out of school – 4 out of every 5 children in Sudan -an entire generation lost without learning.
“Disease is everywhere. Cholera, diptheria, malaria, and dengue are all claiming young lives as health systems collapse.
“Violence robs children of safety. At least 350 grave violations, including killing and maiming, were verified in North Darfur in just six months.
“And we have to remember that Al Fasher is a city that has been under siege for more than sixteen months. 130,000 children are trapped, cut off from food, water, and healthcare. No safe way in or out.
“Amid the devastation that I witnessed, I also saw resilience. Communities repairing schools so their children could resume their education. In a child-friendly space, children laughed and played. They drew homes they have lost and dreams for the future.
“I met UNICEF staff, UN colleagues and our partners, including frontline health workers who, despite unimaginable challenges, delivered oral cholera vaccines and bed nets to 8 million people to fight cholera and malaria, treated more than a quarter of a million children against severe acute malnutrition and repaired and installed water systems so 11 million people have water, including returnees.
“But urgent needs grow every day, and what Sudan needs is unfettered access, funding and a political way forward to end the conflict.”
