Angelina Jolie shared a powerful photo of herself meeting with Sudanese refugees – as she called on the United Nations to take action on the country’s humanitarian crisis.
The poignant image showed Angelina, clad in a black cloak, meeting with several women in a thatched dwelling in Chad.
Angelina, 49, an actress and humanitarian, captioned the post: ‘This morning the UN General Assembly met to discuss the cost of inaction and urgent need to collectively scale up the humanitarian response in Sudan and the region. I recently returned from Chad, where I met Sudanese refugees who have escaped across the border.
‘Due to relentless war and violence, Sudan is currently experiencing the largest displacement crisis in the world, with over 10 million people internally displaced and more than 2 million fleeing to neighbouring countries. The situation is also compounded by mass starvation, as approximately 25.6 million people—over half the population—are facing acute hunger.
‘Despite being one of the poorest countries globally, the people of Chad are sharing their land, food, water, and healthcare with nearly 1.4 million Sudanese refugees.
Angelina Jolie shared a powerful photo of herself meeting Sudanese refugees – as she called on the United Nations to take action on the country’s humanitarian crisis
‘Volunteers in Chad and Sudan have established communal kitchens, collective shelters, makeshift clinics, and women’s cooperatives. They have distributed medication and organized education programs. The efforts of these local grassroots organizations have been nothing short of inspiring —they have achieved so much with so little.
‘But they cannot meet the overwhelming scale of this crisis without proper international support and funding. And above all an immediate end to the fighting, to stop further loss of life, displacement, and suffering.
‘My hope is that today’s meeting will result in decisions, not just conversation. Every hour matters as lives are at stake.
Sudan has been gripped by war since April 2023, when tensions between rival military leaders erupted into violence.
It pits Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, head of the Sudan Armed Forces, against the the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by Gen, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known universally as ‘Hemedti.’
The conflict has so far displaced more than 10 million people, a fifth of Sudan’s population, both within the country and across borders.
An actress and humanitarian, Angelina shared a poignant message about the crisis in Sudan; pictured earlier this month at the Without Blood premiere in Toronto
On Wednesday, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres voiced concern over ‘escalation’ in Sudan’s conflict to the country’s army chief when they met on the sidelines of a diplomatic gathering in New York.
Sudan has been high on the agenda at the UN’s centerpiece meeting this week, with the dire humanitarian situation and refugee crisis dominating discussions on the war that broke out last year.
‘People in Sudan have endured 17 months of hell, and the suffering continues to grow,’ said the UN’s top relief official Joyce Msuya.
A UN-backed assessment has warned of the risk of widespread famine in Sudan on a scale not seen anywhere in the world in decades.
Jolie pictured in April 2024
‘The secretary-general expressed deep concern about the escalation of the conflict in the Sudan, which continues to have a devastating impact on the Sudanese civilians and risks a regional spillover,’ said a UN readout of Guterres’s meeting with General Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan.
The United States, European Union, France and Germany in a joint statement after talks among their ministers urged an immediate ceasefire and negotiations, and voiced alarm over foreign interference.
All foreign powers should ‘refrain from providing military support to the warring parties,’ they said after broader talks that included the United Arab Emirates, widely considered the top backer of the RSF.
The World Health Organization said this month at least 20,000 people have been killed. But some estimates are far higher, with the US envoy for Sudan, Tom Perriello, saying that up to 150,000 people may have died — far more than in the war in Gaza.