UN humanitarian chief decries indifference over Sudan

UNITED NATIONS - Sudan - ravaged by more than two years of civil war - has become a grim example of impunity and the world's indifference, United Nations humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said Thursday.

Fletcher called on "all with influence" to do more to safeguard civilians and to enable humanitarian aid to reach millions in the war-shattered country.

Despite repeated international pledges to protect Sudan's people, "their country has become a grim example of twin themes of this moment: indifference and impunity," he said in a statement.

Fletcher, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, underlined that half Sudan's population, some 30 million people, need lifesaving aid in the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

"Indiscriminate shelling, drone attacks and other air strikes kill, injure and displace people in staggering numbers. The health system has been smashed to pieces, with cholera, measles and other diseases spreading," he said.

The human cost of the war, including "horrific" sexual violence, has been repeatedly condemned, "but talk has not translated into real protection for civilians or safe, unimpeded and sustained access for humanitarians," he continued.

"Where is the accountability? Where is the funding?"

Sudan has been gripped by more than two years of war between its army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Efforts by international mediators to halt the fighting have so far failed, with violence continuing to escalate across the western Darfur region and the Kordofan region in the country's south.

Areas south of Khartoum, war-ravaged Sudan's capital, are at high risk of famine, the UN's World Food Programme warned Tuesday, appealing for funds to plug a huge food aid shortfall.