More than a fifth of Sudan's population has been displaced in its civil war

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Peace talks in Geneva to end the war in Sudan continue today, hosted by the United States, and stakes are higher than ever. The war between the military government and a powerful paramilitary group has led to the world's worst refugee crisis. Some 12 million people have been displaced. There is acute hunger and imminent risk of famine for many. NPR's West Africa correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu joins us. Emmanuel, thanks so much for being with us.

EMMANUEL AKINWOTU, BYLINE: Good morning.

SIMON: What are conditions like in Sudan right now?

AKINWOTU: You know, the collapse of the country has been an epic disaster, and it's only getting worse. And there are several factors at play. More than a fifth of the population in Sudan has been displaced in just over a year, 15 months or so, of fighting. The health system has collapsed. The few hospitals that haven't been destroyed are overwhelmed, and more than a million people are already suffering famine-like conditions. And there are fears of a genocide against African ethnic groups in the Western region of Darfur. It happened 20 years ago, and it appears to be happening again.

And the volume of aid just hasn't been high enough, and both sides have blocked aid from being delivered across the country. I spoke to Mohamed Refaat. He's the head of the International Organization for Migration's mission in Sudan. It's a U.N. agency which has been responding to the refugee crisis. And he says aid delivery has been even harder during the rainy season.

MOHAMED REFAAT: We have now floods that started almost a month ago that have been cutting routes. We are not able to access some of the major cities in Sudan. Over 73,000 have been impacted, and dozens of people are missing. The situation is really dire.

AKINWOTU: Aid groups say millions of people and children could die of hunger in the next few months if there's not an intervention.

SIMON: And tell us about the peace talks in Geneva, because past attempts have failed.

AKINWOTU: Well, there are two main parties to this war. There's the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, who are the military government in Sudan. And there's the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group. These two parties were allies, and now they're fighting essentially for control of the country. At these talks so far, the SAF haven't actually showed up, which has undermined the talks from the start. They are upset that the talks give legitimacy to the RSF and positions them as equal players. And they also object to the role of the United Arab Emirates at the talks. They and other organizations accuse the UAE of backing the RSF, who, of course, deny this. So overall, it's not been a great look for these U.S. efforts. Tom Perriello is the U.S. envoy to Sudan, and he spoke about this in an interview yesterday.

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TOM PERRIELLO: We really respect their right to give their own explanation of why they're not here, but we've gone forward with a really strong diplomatic coalition. The focus is on results. We are moving forward, and we could do so much more if the SAF delegation were to arrive.

AKINWOTU: So they're still hoping the SAF will show up. At this point, a cease-fire seems unrealistic, but there have been some attempts towards opening up aid routes, but not a major breakthrough as of yet.

SIMON: Emmanuel, why isn't more being done to pressure various parties to stop the war and end this horrific humanitarian crisis?

AKINWOTU: Well, Scott, it's been virtually impossible to get a consensus between all the international actors who have a stake in Sudan. This country has been this battleground of international competition for its resources and for influence for several years. Several countries are fueling this war, providing arms, supplies to both sides, you know, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia. But a major factor has been the UAE. They've been accused of heavily funding the RSF. Essentially, as long as this support continues, so will the war.

SIMON: NPR's Emmanuel Akinwotu. Thank you so much for being with us.

AKINWOTU: Thanks, Scott. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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