Southern and Eastern Africa: A region on the brink demands global solidarity
By Tapiwa Gomo and Jane Kiiru
“Seven men in my family were killed. Our home was looted, and even our animals were slaughtered,” said Miriam Adam Idriss, who fled El Geneina in Darfur, Sudan, in November 2024. She escaped with her four daughters and several grandchildren, seeking safety in neighbouring Chad.
She added: “Food became scarcer by the day, and hunger was looming. The children in my family had not been to school since the war in Sudan broke out in April 2023.”
Miriam’s story reflects the harsh reality facing millions of people across Southern and Eastern Africa: conflicts, climate shocks, brutality, loss, displacement, acute hunger, destitution and the collapse of basic services.
A region overwhelmed by crises
Nearly 85 million people across Southern and Eastern Africa require urgent humanitarian assistance this year. That’s a 14 per cent increase from last year, and nearly one third of the people in need worldwide.
Humanitarian response plans totalling US$10.3 billion were less than 15 per cent funded by July, forcing humanitarian partners to scale back life-saving aid.
From Somalia to Sudan, Ethiopia to Mozambique, new and unresolved conflicts are spreading.
In Sudan, the world’s largest internal displacement crisis continues to spiral, with more than 10 million people uprooted but now cut off from assistance in areas in acute need.
In South Sudan, rising political instability threatens to plunge the country back into full-scale crisis, with famine looming and extreme levels of hunger, malnutrition and mortality being reported.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique and Somalia are mired in violence, with civilians caught between escalating conflict and neglect.
Sexual violence is increasing
Sexual violence is now a brutal weapon of war. In DRC, South Sudan and Sudan, women, girls and increasingly men and boys are being raped, abducted and enslaved. Mado, * a 35-year-old refugee in Uganda from DRC, described the lingering trauma: “Amid the violence, I was raped. A clinic provided medication, but the shame lingers – a wound words cannot heal.”
The number of documented conflict-related sexual violence cases in DRC surged from 40,000 in 2021 to more than 113,000 in 2023, with figures doubling again in early 2024.
There has been progress, such as the African Union’s adoption of the Convention on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls, but more is needed to protect survivors, ensure accountability, and dismantle the culture of impunity that allows this violence to flourish.
Hunger and climate shocks
Eastern Africa has long been the epicentre of global hunger, with South Sudan and Sudan among the three countries globally facing confirmed famine. The region also accounts for the majority of people classified in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s highest, or “famine”, level. More than 12.2 million children under age 5 are acutely malnourished in Eastern Africa.
In Southern Africa, the worst El Niño-induced drought in a century destroyed harvests in 2024 and pushed communities to the edge. They are yet to recover. Conflicts, extreme weather and economic shocks have turned fertile lands into starvation zones.
Major diseases are worsening the situation and threatening fragility. Outbreaks of cholera, measles, mpox, Ebola and Marburg virus are spreading across the region, overwhelming already fragile health systems. Angola, South Sudan and Sudan are among the countries worst hit by cholera.
These preventable diseases are killing thousands of people, largely due to the collapse of infrastructure, unsafe water sources and the destruction of health facilities in conflict zones, with climate change contributing to their spread. Cholera alone has infected 133,936 people and claimed 2,665 lives; South Sudan accounts for the highest number of cases and deaths.
Displacement in the region
The scale of displacement is staggering. More than 21.5 million people are internally displaced; nearly 19 million are in Eastern Africa alone. Sudan leads the world in internal displacement.
The region now hosts a record 6.2 million refugees and asylum-seekers. Uganda hosts the most refugees in Africa, with nearly 1.9 million people seeking safety within its borders. Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Zambia also bear heavy burdens. But with funding drying up, even the most generous host communities are overstretched and struggling.
Funding support from OCHA
Hope and action must outpace collapse. The United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund has allocated more than $328 million in the region since 2024, with Sudan receiving nearly $100 million. But it is a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of need.
The region’s people have shown extraordinary resilience. They now need international partnerships that match their courage, with resources, political support and respect for their dignity.