The Sudanese government has suspended its participation in the global hunger-monitoring system on the eve of a report that is expected to show famine spreading across the country.
In a letter dated Monday, the Sudanese minister of agriculture said the government is halting its participation in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system.
The letter accused the IPC of “issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and dignity.”
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The IPC was expected to publish a report yesterday finding that famine has spread to five areas in Sudan and could expand to 10 by May, a briefing document showed.
“This marks an unprecedented deepening and widening of the food and nutrition crisis, driven by the devastating conflict and poor humanitarian access,” the document said.
A spokesperson for the Rome-based IPC declined to comment.
Sudan’s withdrawal from the IPC system could undermine humanitarian efforts to help millions of Sudanese facing extreme hunger, said the leader of a non-governmental organization (NGO) operating there, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Withdrawal from the IPC system won’t change the reality of hunger on the ground, but it does deprive the international community of its compass to navigate Sudan’s hunger crisis,” the NGO source said.
“Without independent analysis, we’re flying blind into this storm of food insecurity,” the source added.
A diplomat with Sudan’s mission to the UN in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the move to cut off the IPC.
The IPC is funded by Western nations and overseen by 19 large humanitarian organizations and intergovernmental institutions, but it has struggled to function in Sudan since civil war erupted there in April last year.
The fighting between the army-backed government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary has disrupted data collection in areas held by both sides.
The forthcoming IPC report lacks updated malnutrition data and assessments of crop productivity during the recent summer rainy season, it says.
The growing season was successful, Monday’s letter says.
It also notes “serious concerns” about the IPC’s ability to collect data from territories controlled by the RSF.
Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University’s Fletcher School, called Sudan’s move to stop cooperating with the IPC “both pathetic and tragic.”
“It’s part of a long history of the government of Sudan denying famine going back more than 40 years,” said De Waal, a leading specialist on famine.
“Whenever there’s a famine in Sudan, they consider it an affront to their sovereignty, and they’re more concerned about their pride and their control than they are over the lives of their citizens,” he added.
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