UN News Today 11 April 2025 |

Sudan war has created suffering of ‘industrial proportions’, aid agencies warn

Two years since Sudan’s brutal conflict began, UN agencies have warned that famine is spreading and civilians of all ages continue to suffer shocking abuse, including rape and gang rape.

Aid office OCHA said that there is no viable peace in sight in Sudan, leaving its people “trapped in a humanitarian crisis of industrial proportions”.

According to OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke, two out of three people in Sudan need lifesaving assistance, 30 million people in all:

“This, of course, demands a massive ramp-up of international support; what we see instead is donors pulling back funding across the world.”

The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began on 15 April 2023 after a breakdown in the transition to civilian rule, which followed the overthrow of long-time President Omar al-Bashir.

At least 12.4 million people have been uprooted from their homes, including more than 3.3 million refugees.

US tariffs move could see three per cent fall in global trade, says top UN economist

Global trade could shrink by three per cent as a result of the United States’ new tariff measures which could ultimately boost untapped regional commercial links, a top UN economist confirmed on Friday.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton, head of the International Trade Centre, ITC, which offers assistance to developing countries, maintained that supply chains will shift and global alliances will be reassessed.

Mrs. Coke-Hamilton was speaking in Geneva after the announcement by the White House of a 90-day pause on additional tariffs for most countries with the exception of China. She said exports from major US trading partners had already been “highly impacted”.

“Global trade could shrink by three per cent, with significant long-term shifts in trade patterns and economic integration…exports from Mexico, which have been highly impacted, are shifting from markets such as the US, China, Europe and even other Latin American countries, with modest gains instead in Canada and Brazil and to a lesser extent, India…Similarly, Vietnamese exports are redirecting away from the US, Mexico and China, while increasing substantially towards minor markets the EU, Korea and others.”

The problem for emerging economies is that they are less well equipped to “pivot” when faced with “instabilities”, the ITC chief said, since they often lack the manufacturing diversity and ability to add value to raw commodities of more industrialized nations.

DR Congo emergency sees one child raped every 30 minutes

Finally, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, where alarming new data on sexual violence against children indicates that levels of abuse have never been higher.

That’s the worrying message from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, which says that youngsters make up to 45 per cent of the nearly 10,000 cases of rape and sexual violence reported to protection actors in just January and February this year.

That was when violence peaked in eastern DRC as Rwanda-backed M23 rebel forces took key cities including Goma and Bukavu, driving tens of thousands of already displaced people for camps and shelters.

UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said that during the most intense phase of the conflict, a child was raped every half an hour, indicating a deliberate policy to harm:

“We are not talking about isolated incidents; we are talking about a systematic crisis. We are seeing survivors as young as toddlers. It is a weapon of war and a deliberate tactic of terror. And it destroys families and communities.”

The UN agency is appealing for urgent and collective action to support additional prevention efforts, services for survivors and safe and easy ways for victims to report abuse without fear or stigma.

Daniel Johnson, UN News

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