Sudan risks deeper hunger crisis due to war, aid cuts and Hormuz disruption, says WFP
GENEVA: Sudan risks sliding backwards into deeper hunger as conflict, aid funding cuts and rising agricultural costs driven by disruption linked to the Iran war threaten to reverse gains made after famine took hold in parts of the country, a senior World Food Programme official said on Tuesday. The war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, now in its fourth year, has displaced millions and devastated much of the country. Aid agencies have repeatedly warned of worsening food insecurity and limited humanitarian access.
Sudan remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with around 5 million people facing emergency or catastrophic levels of hunger, even after an intensive aid response helped reduce the number of people in famine-like conditions, Carl Skau, the WFP’s acting executive director, told Reuters. “It’s a massive crisis, both in terms of numbers, but also the gravity,” he said, adding that more than 100,000 people were still facing famine-like conditions, placing them in the highest level of the UN-backed IPC hunger classification. “With these kinds of numbers in IPC (Phase) 5 starvation it is extremely, extremely serious,” he said. Across Sudan, nearly 19.5 million people face high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the IPC. Skau said recent fighting around Al-Obeid in North Kordofan had raised fears the city could suffer a fate similar to Al-Fashir in Darfur, where conflict and siege conditions have trapped civilians and hindered aid deliveries.
