Nearly half of Sudan’s lifesaving community kitchens have closed down in the last six months because of a lack of international support and the impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran, new research from Islamic Relief has found.
The kitchens, run by local mutual aid groups and known as takaaya, have been a last lifeline for millions of civilians in the Sudanese war.
Islamic Relief surveyed 844 kitchens in six states across Sudan, finding that 354 of them - or 42 percent - had closed because of a lack of funds and supplies.
More than 21 million people in Sudan - 45 percent of the population - are now suffering food shortages because of mass displacement and attacks on farmland and trade routes.
Over the past month, the US-Israeli war on Iran has disrupted global supply routes and put further strain on Sudan’s community kitchens, with rising food shortages and a 187 percent increase in fuel costs in the last few weeks.
