David Lammy ‘horrified’ after meeting war victims face-to-face

Every day families walk the dry and dusty road to Chad, fleeing war and famine in Sudan – events that have shocked the UK foreign secretary.

Under the sun, David Lammy visited the Adré border on Friday to see for himself what happened in the civil war in Sudan that began when the army and its former partner, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), fell.

Those who cross the border are often separated from their families in the chaos to escape and are desperate to see if their family members are safe.

“Some of the scariest things I’ve ever heard and seen in my life,” said Lammy.

“Overwhelmingly, what I have seen here in Chad, on the border with Sudan, are women and children fleeing for their lives – telling stories of mass murder, mutilation, burning, sexual violence against them, their children. And in the midst of all this, hunger , hunger – such unspeakable difficulties.”

The foreign minister saw many women dressed in bright, colorful shawls and carrying children of various ages crossing over in horse-drawn carriages.

They looked tired as they sat on the bags carrying the few things they would have brought with them on the long journey to safety.

“Alhamdulillah” which means “Glory be to God”, said Halima Abdalla when I asked her how she felt about crossing the border.

The 28-year-old has found relief despite having to deal with the loss of one of her children as she fled Darfur, a region in western Sudan, which has seen the worst violence in the past 21 months – much of which she says she did. done by RSF.

“I first went to el-Geneina, but I had to run back when the fighting broke out there,” she says, explaining how she was separated from her husband and two other children.

Aid workers in Adré say they have been trying to reunite families after crossing the border.

“Some mothers have told us to choose the children to run with because they couldn’t carry them all at the same time,” an aid worker told the BBC.

Some abandoned children have been brought in by humanitarian workers across the border and cared for while they try to find their families.

Standing on the Chadian side of the border, Lammy spoke to the fleeing families and aid workers who were welcoming them.

After meeting some of the refugees, he told the BBC: “All these people have stories – very sad ones of fleeing violence, murder in their families, rape, torture, mutilation.”

“I just had a woman who showed me the scars. She was burned by the soldiers in her hands, she was beaten and raped. This is a problem, and we have to bring attention to the world and bring the torture to an end.”

But he criticized what he described as a “flagrant conflict” that appears to have dragged Sudan down, despite it being the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.

In November last year, the UK foreign secretary led a resolution calling for a ceasefire at the UN Security Council, which Russia voted against.

“How can you deny the problem that is happening here?” He asked in a tone of anger.

He told the BBC that he now wants to call, in London, a meeting of Sudan’s neighbors such as Chad and Egypt and “other international people to make peace”.

Several attempts at peace talks led by the US and Saudi Arabia have failed to provide a solution to the conflict.

Since the agreement was stalled, the US accepted military commanders leading both sides of the war. It also confirmed that the RSF and its allies carried out the killings.

More than 12 million people have fled their homes since the war began in April 2023.

Amid the fierce fighting are more than 50 million civilians, nearly half of whom are in need of humanitarian aid, according to UN agencies.

Malnutrition is among the highest in the world today. At the tent hospital in Adré, health workers measure the circulation of six-month-old Rasma Ibrahim’s upper arm.

The colored tape goes all the way to the red end. The effects on his health can last a lifetime. One out of every seven children here in Adré does not have enough food.

The UK will continue to enforce the ceasefire, Lammy said.

It has already increased aid to £200m ($250m), and wants other donor countries to step up.

Aid organizations are concerned about US President Donald Trump’s announcement to freeze foreign aid for 90 days.

The collapse of the support of one of the world’s major donors will undoubtedly have devastating consequences for a crisis like Sudan. The UN is already struggling to meet its aid funding targets.

In 2024, a request for $2.7bn (£2.2bn) to aid Sudan was withdrawn, but only 57% of this money was disbursed.

At the food distribution center in Adré, bags of split yellow peas, millet, sorghum, boxes of cooking oil and other items are neatly arranged on top of cloths as families from the refugee camp line up to find their places.

The cries of babies tied with shawls on the backs of their mothers lined up can be heard. One by one, the families are called to collect their food.

A man is helping to carry a bag of dry food on his friend’s shoulder, and then he is humming on the way back to his house.

The population of Adré was about 40,000 before the start of the civil war in Sudan and has now grown fivefold, according to local volunteers.

Immigrants here are among the lucky few. Across the border, in Darfur, famine was declared in August in the Zamzam camp, near the city of El-Fasher, which the RSF has besieged for more than a year.

On Friday came the sad news that one of the last hospitals in El-Fasher was hit by a drone, killing at least 30 people. Regional officials said that the RSF forces were responsible, but did not comment.

Back in December, the UN-backed Committee on Hunger reported that hunger had spread to many areas – in Darfur to the Abu Shouk and al-Salam camps and in other parts of South Kordofan.

The hunger spread despite the re-opening of the borders of Adré which had been closed by the military on suspicion that they were being used to transport weapons to his enemies.

As we left the border, three or four trucks with UN World Food Program signs drove slowly down the dirt road crossing into Sudan.

They have been providing much needed aid to villages, towns and refugee camps across the border. But it is still far enough.

“We have to rise up and rise now to this great crisis,” said Lammy.