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Sudan's civil war spirals into what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis · INSIGHT TODAY

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  Speaker 1: And we begin in Sudan with the civil war that
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  Speaker 1: has spiraled into what the UN has called the worst
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  Speaker 1: humanitarian crisis. Now, more than three years of fighting have
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  Speaker 1: driven more than 13 million people from their homes and
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  Speaker 1: left some 30 million in need of humanitarian assistance. Urgently
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  Speaker 1: needed international aid funding has been cut off, leaving the
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  Speaker 1: country's fragile health care system on the brink of collapse.
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  Speaker 1: The violence first erupted back in 2023 between the Sudanese
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  Speaker 1: army and the paramilitary rapid support forces, or RSF. The
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  Speaker 1: UN has accused the RSF of committing acts of genocide
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  Speaker 1: against non-Arab ethnic groups. And let's bring in now Amy Pope,
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  Speaker 1: Director General of the International Organization for Migration. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: so much for your time this afternoon. We just heard
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  Speaker 1: that Sudan has been described as the world's largest displacement crisis.
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  Speaker 1: What is the situation on the ground right now? And
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  Speaker 1: is it getting better or worse?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's an interesting picture because it is a situation
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  Speaker 2: where we have more than 8 million people who are
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  Speaker 2: displaced inside the country. And we're seeing particularly in areas
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  Speaker 2: where there remains fighting in areas called Cordovan or Blue Nile.
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  Speaker 3: There are people who are still on the move.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, most of those who are in those areas
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  Speaker 2: are very, very difficult to access with humanitarian support.
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  Speaker 3: At the same time, we're seeing another 5 million.
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  Speaker 2: People who are coming home, particularly those who fled Khartoum,
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  Speaker 2: the capital. They're increasingly coming home, looking to reestablish their
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  Speaker 2: life there. And that situation is also one that the
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  Speaker 2: humanitarian community needs to be investing in.
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  Speaker 1: Again, to reiterate, millions remaining displaced, millions returning home. Do
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  Speaker 1: you see that as a sign of stabilization or is
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  Speaker 1: this just people returning because they have run out of alternatives?
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  Speaker 2: It's both. So since the government forces retook Khartoum, we
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  Speaker 2: have seen increased stability. We have seen increased peace in
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  Speaker 2: that part of the country. And it is, of course,
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  Speaker 2: at the center of the country. It is where much
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  Speaker 2: of the commerce happened. There's quite a lot of infrastructure
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  Speaker 2: that remains. And so people are coming home in search
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  Speaker 2: of livelihoods, in search of jobs, in search of whether
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  Speaker 2: their homes still exist or whether they need to rebuild.
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  Speaker 2: So people are coming because they see an opportunity compared
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  Speaker 2: to the rest of the country. At the same time,
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  Speaker 2: it reflects that the situation for Sudanese, particularly in areas
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  Speaker 2: of the country where fighting remains or outside of the country,
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  Speaker 2: is not one where they can find the jobs.
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  Speaker 3: The shelter or the safety they need.
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  Speaker 1: What's your assessment of getting the aid to those who
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  Speaker 1: need it right now? I mean, do you think that
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  Speaker 1: the situation in Sudan and what is available at the moment,
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  Speaker 1: you know, is this a victim of international fatigue? Is
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  Speaker 1: there too little money, too many crises, too little attention?
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  Speaker 3: It's all of the above.
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  Speaker 2: So first and foremost, there is certainly donor fatigue. The
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  Speaker 2: crisis has been going on now for over three years.
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  Speaker 2: We're seeing, for example, with respect to shelter, which is
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  Speaker 2: what we primarily focus on, only about half of the
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  Speaker 2: funding that is needed to provide shelter has been received,
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  Speaker 2: and we're now in October, so very little of the
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  Speaker 2: year remains, which means that millions of people are going
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  Speaker 2: to go without shelter. But we're also seeing that the
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  Speaker 2: cost of delivering aid has gone up significantly as a
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  Speaker 2: result of the fuel crisis that's happening around the world,
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  Speaker 2: certainly that's impacting our ability to get goods to people
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  Speaker 2: at cost. The costs have gone up tremendously. And finally,
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  Speaker 2: because so many of these people are living in areas
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  Speaker 2: where there's active fighting, access and security for humanitarian workers
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  Speaker 2: is also a tremendous concern for.
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  Speaker 3: All of us.
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  Speaker 1: I'd like to ask you, if you could broaden it
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  Speaker 1: out also, you know, even beyond Sudan, where are you
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  Speaker 1: seeing the most worrying new displacement today?
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  Speaker 3: I have to speak about Yemen.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, we're seeing that almost 200,000 people are newly
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  Speaker 2: displaced in Yemen as a result of the conflict there.
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  Speaker 3: And that's a country where.
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  Speaker 2: Already over 4 million people were already internally displaced.
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  Speaker 3: So we're hearing reports that people are being displaced over
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  Speaker 3: and over again.
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  Speaker 2: Likewise, the issues around access to those communities in need
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  Speaker 2: is one that is very, very difficult to obtain. So essentially,
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  Speaker 2: people are going out without the food, the shelter, the
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  Speaker 2: support that they need, and that's one that we should
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  Speaker 2: all be paying attention to because we expect that those
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  Speaker 2: numbers will grow.
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  Speaker 1: Is any aid getting in?
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  Speaker 3: Very, very little.
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  Speaker 2: I had a chance to meet with a Yemeni minister
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  Speaker 2: just today, and his strong concern is that there are
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  Speaker 2: women and children who are not getting support. The humanitarian
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  Speaker 2: crisis is quickly escalating. We're seeing people now flee over
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  Speaker 2: to Djibouti. And of course, Yemen is a place where
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  Speaker 2: many migrants from the Horn of Africa are traveling through
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  Speaker 2: on their way to the Gulf.
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  Speaker 3: They have very acute needs.
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  Speaker 2: Many are being exploited and trafficked as a result of
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  Speaker 2: the ongoing instability in that country.
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  Speaker 1: Can you speak with us more broadly about what the
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  Speaker 1: situation is, both for your organization and also more generally
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to funding humanitarian aid? And if additional
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  Speaker 1: funding does not arrive, what might you have to stop doing?
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  Speaker 2: So the situation for all humanitarian organizations is quite dire.
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  Speaker 2: To give you a sense, if you looked at our
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  Speaker 2: funding portfolio in 2024, about 60% of our work was
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  Speaker 2: funded to do humanitarian response.
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  Speaker 3: Today, it's about 25, 30%. That's huge.
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  Speaker 2: That means millions of people are going without shelter, without blankets,
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  Speaker 2: without protection, without support. In the country of Ukraine, for example,
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  Speaker 2: where there's ongoing hostility, ongoing attacks on infrastructure. We're seeing
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  Speaker 2: that people are being displaced over and over again. And
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  Speaker 2: many of these people want to make a living. They
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  Speaker 2: want to find some stability. They want their kids to
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  Speaker 2: just get some access to some education. So these short-term
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  Speaker 2: funding cuts actually can put a country well behind in
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  Speaker 2: terms of its ability to recover. We're certainly seeing that
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  Speaker 2: in places like Syria and where the government there is
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  Speaker 2: very focused on helping internally displaced people go home, but
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  Speaker 2: the resources to rebuild communities is still not enough in
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  Speaker 2: order to provide people with the most basics. People who
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  Speaker 2: have been displaced are looking at the same things we'll look.
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  Speaker 3: To.
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  Speaker 2: Can I find a job? Can my children go to school?
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  Speaker 2: Can I get to a doctor if I have a
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  Speaker 2: medical emergency? And if that's not in place, people don't
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  Speaker 2: go home.