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STORY: UN / SUDAN HUMANITARIAN PRESSER
TRT: 03:34
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGES: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 03 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, United Nations headquarters
03 OCTOBER 2025, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, United Nations:
“We had to go around, because there are so many frontlines within Sudan, it becomes very, very difficult to get where we need to go. So, we've traveled through Anganina, Zalingei, Nertiti, and Golo before we arrived in Tawila a couple of days ago.”
4. Wide shot, press briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, United Nations:
“I consider Tawila as one of the epicenters of, frankly, what is clearly a humanitarian catastrophe here. There's a good team on the ground. The people here - there are about 600,000 internally displaced here, mostly fleeing from El Fasher, neighboring areas around El Fasher, of course, from Zamzam in April. So, there are a lot of people here. Just as a reminder, there are more than ten million displaced within the country.”
6. Wide shot, press briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, United Nations:
“I wanted to highlight some of the pressing needs, and the first is stopping the violence. Stop the violence, stop the war. Let us through. We want to get to where people are. We don't want to wait for people to reach us, because by then, to be very honest, they're in a very difficult situation.”
8. Wide shot, press briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, United Nations:
“We also need to be paying attention to the Kordofans. It's not just Darfur and El Fasher, which is horrendous, but we have similar situations in the Kordofan, where supply routes are obstructed. Food prices are skyrocketing, and humanitarian space is very, very limited. So, when I'm talking about humanitarian space, it's about the humanitarian community being able to operate, deliver supplies, deliver services as well. So, we must, must keep the Kordofans on our radar screen.”
10. Wide shot, press briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, United Nations:
“The other pressing priority is stopping that sexual violence. OHCHR has already reported on patterns of conflict-related sexual violence used as a weapon of war. This includes rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence amounting to torture. So, you know, it is a very, very ugly situation with regards to sexual violence.”
12. Wide shot, press briefing room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, United Nations:
“But I also wanted to highlight malnutrition as a severe need. Supply chains are disrupted. From Golo to Tawila, it took us six hours. We don't use the roads. The roads are in such poor conditions, we drove beside the roads and basically, [unintelligible] large trucks. And the only trucks we crossed were the World Food Programme and UNICEF trucks, because the commercial trucks, there's very few of them, so supplies are limited on the market. Food prices are skyrocketing. Access to clean water is limited. Sanitation is incredibly poor, and that's why we have the epidemic of cholera and dengue fever.”
14. Wide shot, press briefing room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Denise Brown, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, United Nations:
“The obstacles we're facing. Look, Sudan, as you know, it's the size of France, Germany, Italy and Spain. It's massive. The number of people in need is massive, more than 30 million. Active front lines, besieged areas. And I have to say - thank you to our donors. I think we are the highest funded humanitarian response plan, but we're only funded at 25 per cent.”
16. Wide shot, press briefing room
“Stop the violence, stop the war. Let us through,” UN aid chief Denise Brown said after describing situation in Sudan as a “humanitarian catastrophe,” with millions displaced, food and water scarce, and sexual violence on the rise.
Denise Brown, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan, briefed reporters today (Oct 03) virtually from Tawila, North Darfur, after what she described as a difficult journey to get there. “We had to go around, because there are so many frontlines within Sudan, it becomes very, very difficult to get where we need to go.”
Brown noted that about 600,000 people had been displaced there, mostly fleeing El Fasher and surrounding areas. “Just as a reminder, there are more than ten million displaced within the country,” she said.
She urged all sides to end hostilities. “I wanted to highlight some of the pressing needs, and the first is stopping the violence. Stop the violence, stop the war. Let us through. We want to get to where people are,” she said.
Brown warned that crises are also worsening outside Darfur. “We also need to be paying attention to the Kordofans. It's not just Darfur and El Fasher, which is horrendous, but we have similar situations in Kordofan, where supply routes are obstructed. Food prices are skyrocketing, and humanitarian space is very, very limited.”
Sexual violence remained a major concern, she stressed. “OHCHR has already reported on patterns of conflict-related sexual violence used as a weapon of war. This includes rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual violence amounting to torture. So, you know, it is a very, very ugly situation with regards to sexual violence.”
The UN official also pointed to rising malnutrition, disease outbreaks, and broken supply chains. “Food prices are skyrocketing. Access to clean water is limited. Sanitation is incredibly poor, and that's why we have the epidemic of cholera and dengue fever.”
Brown said the scale of the crisis far outweighed available resources. “Sudan, as you know, it's the size of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. It's massive. The number of people in need is massive, more than 30 million. Active front lines, besieged areas. And I have to say - thank you to our donors. I think we are the highest funded humanitarian response plan, but we're only funded at 25 per cent.”
