UN Aid Chief Departs With Warning Of 'Huge' Famine

Sudan is facing horror "beyond imagination", the outgoing UN aid chief has warned, with 750,000 people under imminent threat of famine and with conditions in danger of worsening even further.

-  Julian Borger

The British diplomat Martin Griffiths is stepping down as the UN's undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs at a time when famine on a historic scale is looming over Sudan and Gaza. Griffiths told the Guardian that while Gaza is the subject of intense diplomatic effort, another - potentially much larger-human-made tragedy is unfolding in Sudan, largely out of the world's sight, and with little sign of diplomatic progress.

Statistics published last week by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) showed that 495,000 Palestinians in Gaza face catastrophic conditions, defined as an "extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities", over the coming six months.