Foreign Affairs published on 17 June 2024 a commentary titled "Sudan's Manmade Famine: How the United States and Its Gulf Partners Are Enabling Mass Starvation" by Alex de Waal.
The author argues that it is up to the United States and its Western allies to pressure Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who have considerable leverage over the belligerents in Sudan, to demand that the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces allow for the unimpeded distribution of food aid in order to forestall starvation.
Comment: While the commentary makes a number of important and valid points, it is exasperating that most of the blame for this situation falls on the United States and its Western allies. Is there no role for China, India, the African Union, and even the individual 54 (minus Sudan) African countries that vote in the UN General Assembly? Why does the author give most of the rest of the world a pass?
Nor is there any mention in the commentary that the United States, the European Union, and its member states provide overwhelmingly the food aid that does reach Sudan and Sudanese refugees. The United States alone has provided $968 million in humanitarian aid to Sudan since September 2023. The rest of the world outside the EU has been largely absent.
It's time for more balance when playing the blame game.
