By Blessing Chinagorom
South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has on Thursday, 4 January 2024, received the leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), General Mohamed Dagalo, of the Republic of Sudan at Mahlamba Ndlopfu official residence in Pretoria over conflict the country.
According to the statement released by his aide, Ramaphasa expressed South Africa’s support for imminent face to face dialogue between the conflict leaders, reiterated the need for an immediate ceasefire, and the dialogue towards permanent cessation of hostilities.
The President welcomed the briefing from General Dagalo and commended the central role of the African Union and IGAD under the chairship of Djibouti in mediating between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF, participation of the people of Sudan, and civil society in finding a lasting solution to the security and political challenges.
The eight months of conflict in Sudan has reportedly stretched the health system to its limits with displacement, disease outbreaks, war injuries, non-communicable diseases and needs for maternal and child health rising in the face of declining capacity to meet these needs.
Also, the conflict has displaced over 6.88 million people over 5.42 million of whom have sought safety within Sudan and over 1.45 million have fled to neighbouring countries (IOM DTM Sudan – Weekly Displacement Snapshot 13).
Report has it that 24.7 million people need humanitarian aid, and 18.1 million people have been targeted for humanitarian aid as per the revised Humanitarian Response Plan launched in May 2023. 11 million people are in need of urgent health assistance, and 7.6 million of these have been targeted for response.
The war has also reported to have caused over 12,501 deaths according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) data of 08 December 2023, and 26,051 injuries according to the Sudan’s Federal Ministry of Health data (08 December 2023).
While stated further that since 15 April 2023, WHO has verified 60 attacks on health care resulting in 34 deaths and 38 injuries, adding that the conflict spread to WHO’s major operations hub in Wad Madani in Al Jazirah state which has the estimated 5.9 million population.
The state hosts nearly half a million people displaced since 15 April, 86, 400 of whom are in Wad Medani (OCHA – Sudan: Clashes in Wad Madani between SAF and RSF Flash. There is an ongoing cholera outbreak in Al Jazirah state with over 1,600 cases 26 deaths as of 10 December, 2023.
The latest projection update of Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), stated that 17.7 million people across Sudan have fallen into high levels of acute food insecurity btw October 2023 and February 2024 driven by intense conflict, organized violence, and the continued economic decline in the country.