PORT SUDAN, Sudan

Up to three million people in Sudan could die from hunger amid a protracted conflict between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, the International Rescue Committee warned Wednesday.

“Almost half of the country is in a form of humanitarian need,” Country Director Eatizaz Yousif told Washington-based National Public Radio.

“Three million are on the brink of famine,” she warned. “That is the initial numbers. And the number of people underreported that is being really silently dying is unbelievable because there's a failure in the health system.”

“I guess we don't have a lot of influence. I guess our geographical location is not having a huge importance like Palestine or Syria or even Ukraine. Sudan crisis has been even before us, and we never get that media attention,” she said.

Yousif said she doesn’t want to compare crisis to crisis, “but I guess Sudan - it's really required to be at the heart of diplomacy effort and to get the attention it required.”

The conflict in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between army Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo over disagreements about integrating the paramilitary group into the military.

The conflict has killed nearly 16,000 people, displaced millions and caused a devastating humanitarian crisis in Sudan, according to UN figures.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio