The Sudan Conflict Monitor, produced by the Sudan Transparency & Policy Tracker, gave us March 7 the most comprehensive recent analysis of developments in war-ravaged Sudan. See its brief analysis of the shut-down of almost all assistance to the Emergency Response Rooms offering one meal a day to the starving in decimated cities.
With official humanitarian aid SHUT DOWN, you are urged to contribute directly to faith-based organizations working in Sudan, including AFRECS. Please go to www.afrecs.org/donate or send a check to AFRECS, PO Box 3327, Alexandria VA 22302.
An excerpt from their report is below:
On January 24, 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order that suspended all ongoing USAID programs pending a 90-day review. Overnight, multiple agencies and programs were issued stop work orders. Since then, an estimated 90% of contracts have been canceled. … This has a serious economic impact for Sudan.
Two-thirds of the funding for the Emergency Response Rooms was provided by the US. As a result, 80% soup kitchens run by the Emergency Response Rooms have been shut down, affecting an estimated two million people. For most of the beneficiaries, the food provided at the soup kitchens was “the only meal they get,” according to Hajooj Kuka, a spokesman for the Emergency Response Rooms. Volunteers at the emergency rooms are reporting that hungry people they used to serve are knocking on their doors in desperation. In the words of one volunteer, “we expect to see a lot of people starving” very soon. In Dilling, South Kordofan, local organizations report that malnutrition-related deaths have occurred since the local community kitchens were forced to shut down.
The cut of funding to the emergency rooms is particularly gut-wrenching because these very local hardworking volunteers are delivering aid at very low cost, and USAID had just begun a process to engage with them more directly, increasing efficiency. These efforts to provide more locally accountable and efficient aid now seem doomed.