Imminent Famine Looms Over Sudan as War Disrupts Food Supply, Affecting Over Six Million People

The United Nations (UN) raised a warning on Wednesday about the impending famine in Sudan, a country ravaged by months of warfare which has disrupted food supplies and forced nearly four million people to abandon their homes. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, over 20.3 million people, making up over 42 percent of the country’s population, are experiencing severe acute food insecurity.

This figure is double the number of people who were already highly food insecure last year, before the conflict ignited between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In an alarming escalation of an already dire humanitarian crisis, the UN warned on Wednesday that “6.3 million people are one step away from famine”. The ongoing hostilities have obliterated vital infrastructure, drastically impacted agriculture, and obstructed the delivery of essential aid.

West Darfur, which has experienced some of the most brutal conflict, including targeted civilian attacks and widespread sexual violence, sees over half of its population “facing acute hunger”.

Data from the International Organization for Migration reveals that more than three million people have been internally displaced, while nearly a million others have sought refuge across Sudan’s borders. Khartoum, the country’s capital, has seen over two million people, or 40 percent of its pre-war population, flee.

Despite promises from the warring factions, no humanitarian corridors have been established, inhibiting aid groups from delivering increasingly crucial assistance. Even as Wednesday saw continued urban combat in the capital, an army spokesperson announced in a televised address that “dozens from the rebel militia” had been “killed and wounded” in an air strike in southern Khartoum.

The RSF, despite allegations of atrocities, positions itself as a champion of democracy and accuses the army of conspiring with the former regime of Omar al-Bashir. Bashir, a longtime autocrat, was removed from power in 2019 after public protests. The fragile transition to civilian rule that followed was disrupted by a coup in 2021, led by Burhan with Daglo as his deputy.

When the two generals’ relationship soured, Daglo blamed Burhan’s government for instigating the war with the intention of returning Bashir’s banned National Congress Party (NCP) to power. The RSF statement on Wednesday accused the army of shielding NCP officials across the country, especially in eastern Sudan, and warned against “civil war”. It claimed the army was safeguarding former regime members who had escaped from prison early in the war, with the explicit aim of regaining control of the country.