JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Ongoing civil war in Sudan has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis ever. That's according to the International Rescue Committee. The United Nations says more than 24 million people there are facing acute hunger. And more than 11 million people have been forced to leave their homes because of the war. And today the Biden administration has declared that the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group aligned against the Sudanese Army, has committed genocide. Tom Perriello is the U.S. special envoy for Sudan. He joins us now from the State Department. Welcome.
TOM PERRIELLO: Thank you for having me.
SUMMERS: Tom, I know that you traveled to Sudan in November, and you met with the Sudanese Army as well as humanitarian groups, who were experiencing significant delays in receiving aid for hungry and displaced Sudanese people. Can you tell us what's happening now?
PERRIELLO: It's a horrific humanitarian situation compounded by these horrific atrocities, including those that were designated today. You're talking about tens of millions of people that have been forced from their home. It was really a famine initially created primarily by the Rapid Support Forces burning the harvest, burning and looting the warehouses, making it a dangerous and unpermissive environment for workers. Then the south side - the army side - about a year ago started to really create a humanitarian embargo on the country and exacerbate that famine greatly going into the rainy season.
Over the last six months, with Secretary Blinken's leadership, we've been able to have steady progress in getting millions and millions more access to food and medicine. But the conditions are truly horrific on the ground not just in terms of food and medicine but grave acts like shelling of displaced person...
SUMMERS: Right.
PERRIELLO: ...Camps by the Rapid Support Forces and others.
SUMMERS: I'm going to jump in and just ask you this. I wonder what most stays with you from that trip. Is there a conversation or a person that you keep coming back to?
PERRIELLO: Well, I mean, unfortunately, what you always remember is the stories of Sudanese women, particularly those who have faced rape, sometimes identified specifically for their ethnicity, facing sexual slavery and really wanting to make sure that those who committed these horrific abuses don't get impunity, don't get away with it. And I think what you saw with the Biden administration today was that we continue to lead the world in imposing economic sanctions on these bad actors today, including the head of the RSF itself, Hemedti, as well as his two brothers previously. And we are going to continue to raise the costs on those that are committing those kinds of atrocities that, unfortunately, you do hear about. And they just do burn into your soul.
PERRIELLO: Well, you know, it's really been something that Secretary Blinken has been very committed to - these talks - along with our partners in the region. Unfortunately, we've not been able to get to a national ceasefire. We've had some success with humanitarian corridors, and we're hoping to see the establishment of some humanitarian hubs, maybe even in the coming days or weeks. And we really need to see leadership from the army side to make that happen. We, you know, support various mediation efforts, including those that we've done with the Saudis before. But ultimately, we have to remember this was a war of choice and a famine created by men. It wasn't a famine that was created by a tsunami or a drought.
SUMMERS: Yeah.
PERRIELLO: It was really because these two sides decided, first, to join forces together to overthrow the civilian transition and then to fight each other at the expense of the people of Sudan.
SUMMERS: We mentioned earlier that, you know, peace talks have failed. Even if peace is out of reach right now, there's the hunger that we're talking about. We've got about a minute left. What is being done now to alleviate the widespread hunger that is there in Sudan?
PERRIELLO: Well, the United States led an effort starting in August called the ALPS initiative, and it really broke through this enormous humanitarian embargo on 25 million people. And every day, we are working with partners to get more trucks through, more flights landed, working with the U.N. and working with NGOs to get that food in there. The U.S. has given more than the rest of the world combined, and we need more partners around the world to understand this famine exists...
SUMMERS: Yeah.
PERRIELLO: ...And must be addressed. And most of all, we need both sides to allow full access to humanitarian relief. It cannot be...
SUMMERS: OK.
PERRIELLO: ...Used as a weapon of war by either the RSF or the south.
SUMMERS: We'll have to leave it there. That's Tom Perriello, the U.S. special envoy for Sudan. Thank you so much.
PERRIELLO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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