UN Warns Parts of Sudan Nearing Famine as 19.5 Million Face Acute Hunger

The United Nations has issued its starkest warning yet over Sudan, where nearly 20 million people are experiencing crisis-level food insecurity as fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces pushes parts of the country closer to famine.

CAIRO — A joint alert released Friday by the UN World Food Programme, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and UNICEF said more than 19.5 million Sudanese — roughly two in five — are facing acute hunger. Approximately 5 million people are at emergency levels, while around 135,000 are already in catastrophic conditions marked by extreme deprivation and heightened risk of death.

Fourteen areas across Darfur and Kordofan remain at risk of famine in the coming months if fighting escalates and humanitarian access does not improve, the agencies warned. No region has yet been formally declared at famine level, but the situation is described as alarmingly close.

The Iran conflict is now compounding Sudan’s food crisis. Reuters reported Monday that fuel prices have more than doubled and fertilizer costs have risen 67% year-on-year, threatening the summer harvest. The UN’s senior food security analyst in Sudan warned overall production could fall by at least 40%.

“At that price we don’t make a profit, you spend your whole profit on the diesel,” one farmer in the Jamuia scheme near Omdurman told Reuters. Only 500 of 10,000 feddans have been planted halfway through the season, according to the scheme’s farmers’ committee.

Sudan relies on the Gulf for more than half its fertilizer needs. The war has left the country entirely dependent on fuel imports, making it acutely exposed to price shocks from the regional conflict.

Children are bearing the heaviest toll. UNICEF said an estimated 825,000 children under five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition this year — a 7% increase from last year and 25% above pre-war levels.

“Children suffering from severe acute malnutrition arrive at overstretched facilities too weak to cry,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

The war, now in its fourth year, has uprooted nearly 9 million people inside Sudan and devastated agriculture, trade, and healthcare infrastructure. The RSF controls Darfur in the west while the army holds the central and eastern regions, with fighting intensifying over the agriculturally crucial Kordofan region.

The UN humanitarian office said a sustained production shock risks “worsening hunger well beyond the current food crisis.” Donors have been asked to act before the harvest season is lost.