Over half of those displaced in Sudan itself are children under the age of 18 years, with reports from the UN describing them as having "endured more than a year of separation, human rights violations, trauma, violence, and lack of access to basic services".

In April of this year, the Sudan Catholic Bishops Conference raised concerns that "the international community has forgotten the Sudan crisis."

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"The international community cannot stand by as this crisis spirals out of control, as the noose of this conflict tightens its stranglehold on the civilian population," she told journalists at U.N. Headquarters in New York.

War and starvation

For more than a year, the Sudanese army and the rival Rapid Support Forces have been engaged in fierce battles.

The war has brought Sudan - already one of the world's poorest countries - to an utter state of catastrophe.

And as always with war, the most vulnerable and poorest suffer the most.

According to the U.N. approximately 18 million Sudanese are experiencing severe hunger - with over five million people on the brink of famine!

U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami said:

"We have just six weeks before the lean season sets in, when food becomes less available and more expensive."

And Nkweta-Salami added that with two more life-threatening deadlines coming quickly,

These are the rainy season, which makes it more difficult to reach desperate people; and the end of the planting season.

"The people of Sudan are in the path of a perfect storm that is growing more lethal by the day".

To escape the war, and its subsequent famine, over 9 million Sudanese have been forcibly displaced - the largest number of displaced people in the world.

Many of them cross over into neighboring countries like South Sudan - the poorest country on earth!

Sudan Relief Fund

Several years ago, an 80-year-old nun spoke to me very favorably about her personal knowledge of the Sudan Relief Fund.

And since then, I have been keeping informed and contributing to their wonderful life-saving efforts.

They are funding remarkable work, done by remarkable people like Dr. Tom Catena

On a recent visit to Sudan and South Sudan, Sudan Relief Fund's senior vice president Matt Smith sadly reported this:

"To put the crisis in perspective, families are risking their lives to come to a desperately poor country with no resources to help them, because it's preferable to being in the crossfire of Sudan's violent war.

"In the truest sense, they have no other choice". Please kindly make a donation.

The independent research organisation International Crisis Group is urging the United Nations and the United States to urgently mediate a truce.

"All should support a U.N.-led initiative to negotiate evacuation corridors for the suffering population in El Fasher and the surrounding camps for the displaced".

This is where a major military battle is unfolding.

They must "insist on immediate cross-border access for U.N. aid agencies into all areas of Sudan to stave off famine."

Aid alert

Maryknoll - the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America - has prepared an action alert for us. Please kindly complete and send it.

The world's Catholic bishops at the Second Vatican Council declared the following:

"Since there are so many people prostrate with hunger in the world, this sacred council urges all, both individuals and governments, to remember the aphorism of the Fathers:

" ‘Feed the man dying of hunger, because if you have not fed him, you have killed him.' "

• First published in the Clarion Herald
• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist.

Lawson says the G7 needs to cancel Global South debts, end hunger and pay up for climate damage.

Lawson spoke out after the G7 met in Hiroshima last week.

"They failed to cancel debts and they failed to find what is really required to end the huge increase in hunger worldwide.

"They can find untold billions to fight the war but can't even provide half of what is needed by the UN for the most critical humanitarian crises."

If the G7 really want backing for the war in Ukraine, they have to go about it differently, Lawson said.

He noted Global South countries are being crippled by a food and debt crisis of huge proportions.

"Countries are paying over US$200 million a day to the G7 and their bankers, money they could spend feeding their people instead."

Pope Francis is likewise concerned.

Last week he asked the G7 to seek "responsible multilateral cooperation."

He asked for an integral global security "capable of embracing issues including access to food and water, respect for the environment, health care, energy sources and the equitable distribution of the world's goods."

Some statistics

Over half of all debt payments from the Global South are going to the G7 or to private banks based in G7 countries.

Over US$230 million dollars a day is flowing into the G7.

Countries are bankrupt, spending far more on debt than on health or food for their people.

Debt payments have increased sharply as Global South countries borrow in dollars; rising interest rates supersede their debt repayments.

Climate Change

Another G7 failure is that its policies damage the world's weather systems.

It owes the Global South US$8.7 trillion for the losses and damages its carbon emissions cause, Lawson said.

While the G7 Hiroshima communique said they recognised the new Loss and Damage fund, they failed to commit a cent to it.

"It is good they continue to recognise the need to meet 1.5 degrees and stay committed to this despite the energy crisis driven by the war in Ukraine, but they try to blame everyone else.

"They must stop using fossil fuels immediately - the planet is on fire."

Source

• Oxfam
• Catholic Culture

The Italian version of the paper devoted most of its 24 May front page to the matter saying the crisis will be particularly catastrophic in the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia.

The paper says the food shortage is a direct result of the war in Ukraine and will most likely be catastrophic in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.

Citing reports from CNN, The Guardian and The Times on the grain shortage, the L'Osservatore mentions a possible military response to the Russian blockade of Ukrainian grain exports.

"A war within the war could in the long run even lead to a greater number of deaths than the conflict itself if the deadlock linked to the tons of grain still in the ports of Ukraine is not resolved," says the L'Osservatore.

L'Osservatore Romano is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication.

The paper reports there are some 22 million tons of corn blocked from distribution from which the Russians are constantly stealing.

It is urging the world community to help Ukraine unblock seaports otherwise an energy crisis will be followed by a global food crisis.

"The time we have left is very short.

"We are approaching a new harvest and there is no other practical way to export grain other than through the Black Sea port of Odessa, "Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian.

The Lithuanian minister has proposed a naval operation not managed by NATO, that would protect ships loaded with grain as they sail across the Black Sea beyond the Russian blockade.

Landsbergis also suggested that countries affected by grain shortages such as Egypt could help ensure the necessary protection.

The Times newspaper confirms that the UK is also working on the creation of a "coalition of the willing" to send warships to the Black Sea in order to offer a protected corridor to merchant ships carrying Ukrainian grain.

With this year's wheat harvest estimated to be 40 per cent lower in Ukraine, Italian agricultural agency Coldiretti says the conflict has dealt a severe blow to the Ukrainian economy.

Source

• L'Osservatore Romano

Every month, the agency moves more than 25,000 tons of food in its war on hunger.

In mid-April of this year, Asu Dennis Charles Lasuba, a member of the Kakwa people, decided he had to leave. There was nothing more he could do.

Fighters rallying behind former South Sudanese vice president, Riek Machars, had spread out across Kakwa territory in the southern part of the country.

In response, soldiers belonging to the government army advanced into the area and accused Lasuba and his people of cooperating with Machar's rebels.

The soldiers began slaughtering members of the ethnic group and burning down their homes.

The violence turned 37-year-old Lasuba into yet another South Sudanese refugee.

Like 6 million of his compatriots who have become internally displaced or have otherwise suffered due to the almost four-year long conflict, Lasuba is now dependent on international aid.

After arriving in the Imvepi refugee camp just a few days after he escaped the violence, he described the fear that triggered his flight.

Like 1 million other people from South Sudan, he has found refuge in Uganda. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) provides them with the rations necessary to survive: 2,100 calories per day.

But the amount of food that must be shipped to feed Lasuba and the other refugees in Uganda, as well as the 2 million internally displaced still in South Sudan, is enormous.

In 2016, the WFP bought more than 300,000 tons of sorghum, beans and oil for the South Sudan crisis alone.

When it comes to food purchases, there is but a single rule the WFP follows: Supplies must always be bought at the lowest price possible.

Because that sum is a combination of the purchase price and transport costs, sacks of grain sometimes travel huge distances across circuitous routes before they end up in the gigantic depot in eastern Uganda for deployment in the South Sudan crisis.

Is the price of corn currently low in Mexico? Is it cheap enough that the amount saved justifies sending it halfway around the globe? If it is, WFP will buy it. Continue reading

Sources

• Spiegel Online
• Image: Jamii Radio

But you knew that in a short time the next meal would be there for you. Knowing that a good meal was awaiting you allowed your slight hunger to actually whet your appetite.

Now imagine that you are very hungry and have no idea where the next meal will come from for you and your family. In this case your hunger is physically painful and terrifyingly stressful.

Imagine now that there is no work to be found, the drought has dried up your crops. Your livestock is dead. And you and your family have eaten the last seeds that were meant for next season's planting.

Now how are you feeling?

This is how many Africans are feeling, especially those in South Sudan, Somalia, Northeast Nigeria, and nearby Yemen. In these nations over 20 million people are facing famine and starvation.

Armed conflict and severe drought are the main engines driving this emergency - the world's largest humanitarian crisis since the end of World War II (see: http://arcg.is/2tjzoRe).

"Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death" and "many more will suffer and die from disease," said Stephen O'Brien, U.N. under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs.

He emphasized that to avert a catastrophe, immediate adequate funding from wealthy nations is critical.

O'Brien said the largest humanitarian emergency was in Yemen - the Arab world's poorest nation - where two-thirds of the population - 18.8 million people - desperately need aid, and over seven million people are hungry and don't know where their next meal will come from (see: http://bit.ly/2ks1Mvt).

Compounding the famine, Yemen is now facing the world's worst cholera outbreak according to the U.N. which has placed blame on all sides of the nation's ongoing conflict between the U.S.-backed Saudi Arabia-led coalition and the Houthis (see: http://cbsn.ws/2ui2bph).

An editor friend of mine in Nigeria put me in touch with Bishop Stephen Mamza, head of the northeast Nigerian Diocese of Yola. Bishop Mamza sent me a report with his assessment of the crisis in Yola.

His report states that the U.N. World Food Program's response to the food crisis in Nigeria is critically underfunded, meaning that hundreds of thousands of food insecure Northeast Nigerians are not being helped.

Bishop Mamza wrote that he and other diocesan aid workers visited a makeshift settlement where "we met scores of hungry, malnourished and crying children who told us that they had not eaten for three days."

Caritas New Zealand is working with its partners in South Sudan to help save the lives of millions of people facing starvation, and responding to thousands of others in Kenya facing serious food shortages. Donate to the East Africa Crisis Appeal.

"For I was hungry and you gave me food" (Matt. 25: 31-46).

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings about Catholic social teaching. His keynote address, "Advancing the Kingdom of God in the 21st Century," has been well received by diocesan and parish gatherings from Santa Clara, Calif. to Baltimore, Md. Tony can be reached at tmag@zoominternet.net

They have named four countries that need urgent help. Read more

Mass starvation faces South Sudan as the country suffers from the "scorched-earth" policies of the factions fighting a civil war in the region.

South Sudanese civilians are being targeted by both sides in the country's three-year civil war.

Food shortages are made worse by problems of unemployment as civilians are forced from their homes and land by the opposing forces.

Among the most vulnerable to starvation are more than three million refugees and people internally displaced by fighting between the supporters of President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar.

Added to this is soaring inflation and poor rains, meaning that the country had now entered a critical time, the bishops said.

They also spoke of war crimes being committed by people on both sides of the fighting.

"The killing, torturing and raping of civilians is a war crime," they bishops said.

"People have been herded into their houses which were then set on fire."

Source

• CatholicCulture
• Catholic News Service
• Image: ICRC

‘An estimated 13 million people are in grave danger,' says Caritas Director Julianne Hickey. ‘This has been brought on by severe drought, poor harvests, and rising food prices - made worse by regional conflict.'

‘Drought is a natural phenomenon, but famine is caused by human action - or inaction,' she says. Hundreds of thousands of people died needlessly in the Horn of Africa last year because the international community took too long to respond. Eventually, concerted action by humanitarian agencies helped avert a far greater disaster in most of the affected countries. ‘There is no excuse for people to die of hunger in our world today,' says Ms Hickey.

New Zealand's Foreign Minsiter Murray McCully also announced on Wednesday that the Government will provide $1 million to a United Nations food relief programme in the Sahel.

Donations to Caritas for the Sahel crisis can be made by:

• Phoning 0800 22 10 22 to make credit card donations or
• Donating online using a credit card at www.caritas.org.nz or
• Posting to Caritas, PO Box 12193, Thorndon, Wellington 6144, New Zealand.

The international Caritas network is providing a coordinated response across five of the most severely affected countries in the Sahel - Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mauritania. In Niger alone, about 5.5 million people face hunger because of drought. Without assistance, communities are being forced to rely on traditional coping mechanisms. Some of these practices can make things worse in the long-term, such as burning trees to make charcoal or selling-off of livestock.

Caritas is distributing essential food to the most vulnerable; seeds and agricultural inputs for planting; and setting up both Food for Work and Cash for Work programmes. Young children, and pregnant and breast-feeding women, are the focus of special food assistance. The Caritas network is also establishing emergency water, hygiene and sanitation facilities in Niger, as thousands of refugees flee fighting in northern Mali between the country's army and a rebel group.

‘Intervention now will help prevent a catastrophic event such as we saw in the Horn of Africa,' says Ms Hickey.

Caritas Humanitarian Programmes Officer Mark Mitchell has just returned from Kenya, where he saw the difference that good, effective relief programmes made after last year's Horn of Africa drought.

‘Lessons have been learnt from the Horn of Africa,' says Mr Mitchell, ‘in terms of responding quicker and noticing the warning signs and thresholds of hardship earlier.'

‘I've seen the importance of Food for Work schemes in putting in place better water supplies, using better collection methods and improving access to water in the long term.'

Source

• Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand
• Radio New Zealand
• Image: The Guardian

He stated that food should not be equated with other merchandise and therefore should not be subject to speculation.

What is required is investment in agriculture and, ultimately, the need to rediscover "the feeling of compassion and humanity towards others, accompanied the duty of solidarity and the realization of justice".

The message marking the thirtieth World Food Day was sent to the Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Jacques Diouf.

Commenting on this year's theme "Food Prices: from crisis to stability," the Pope writes that "the meaning of this day should be a commitment to changing behaviors and decisions to make sure that every person today, and not tomorrow, has access to the food they need, and that the agricultural sector has a sufficient level of investment and resources to bring stability to production and as a result to the market. "

Pope Benedict remarked that behaviour and consumption would need to be moderated for the good of future generations so that there can be "concrete commitments for the development of entire peoples and nations."

He noted that countries who received help had a responsibility to invest "in rural infrastructures, irrigation systems, transport, organization of markets, and in the development and dissemination of agricultural technology that can make the best use of the human, natural and socio-economic resources that are more readily available at the local level"

The Pope added, "All of this can only be realized if the international institutions ensure impartiality and efficiency of their service, but in full compliance with the deepest convictions of the human spirit and aspirations of each person.

Source: Vatican Radio

Image: Radio Canada International

Caritas Director Mike Smith said a concerted effort is being made by Caritas members around the world to raise funds and direct aid to the places of greatest need.

Over 10 million people, half of whom are children, face starvation in the worst drought in 60 years. The situation is exacerbated by conflict, rising food prices and plummeting livestock values.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand is working primarily through Trocaire (Caritas Ireland) and their Horn and East Africa Regional Office, as part of a coordinated Caritas response across Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Kenya.

Trocaire in conjunction with its local partners aims to provide immediate life-sustaining help for 18,000 drought-affected households across six districts in western Kenya. ‘Plans to provide basic food and water for four months will help ensure the people's survival and prevent erosion of assets,' says Mr Smith.

In addition, 4,500 pastoral-based households will have their livestock bought for cash. This will relieve the pressure on natural resources and provide an income source for the families. The livestock will be relocated to areas that still have grazing. These herds are planned to be restored to their original owners in four months time after expected short rains.

Affected communities will also be involved in rehabilitating waterholes, harvesting and regeneration of pastures. Drought-resistant seeds will be provided to make the most of the short rains in October. The development of community assets such as water dams will help provide resilience for the future.

Mr Smith welcomes the New Zealand government's $3 million towards alleviating the crisis, and its decision to allocate $1 million of that through New Zealand aid agencies responding to this crisis. Caritas is applying for up to $250,000 of these funds.

‘The gravity of the situation requires a huge response from the international community, as well as measures to address the underlying situations that have led to this crisis,' said Mr Smith. ‘We are quietly confident that New Zealanders will respond generously to this humanitarian crisis.'

Donations to Caritas can be made by:

• Phoning 0900 4 11 11 to make an automatic $20 donation from your phone account
• Phoning 0800 22 10 22 to make credit card donations or
• Donating online using a credit card at www.caritas.org.nz
• Posting to Caritas, PO Box 12193, Thorndon, Wellington 6144, New Zealand.