A woman and children are seen in a tent at a center for displaced people fleeing from conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Port Sudan on November 12, 2024.

 (Photo: Fayez Ezaki/Xinhua via Getty Images)

'Tragic': Sudan Ditches Global Hunger Monitor as War Expands Famine

The government accused the monitor of "issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan's sovereignty and dignity" as aid and human rights experts called for global action to boost humanitarian assistance.

The Sudanese government suspended cooperation with a global hunger monitor on Monday, on the eve of the initiative announcing that the African country's civil war has driven the expansion of a famine first declared at a refugee camp earlier this year and expected to keep growing next year without a cease-fire.

Alarm over widespread hunger in Sudan has mounted since fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)—the nation's official military—and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023. The famine declaration for Zamzam camp, which houses hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Darfur, came in August.

Reuters—which reported on Sudan's Monday letter to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and its Famine Review Committee (FRC)—noted that its "investigation found that the Sudanese government obstructed the IPC's work earlier this year, delaying by months a famine determination for the sprawling Zamzam camp."

The government's new letter accuses the monitor of "issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan's sovereignty and dignity," according to Reuters. "It says the forthcoming IPC report lacks updated malnutrition data and assessments of crop productivity during the recent summer rainy season. The growing season was successful, the letter says. It also notes 'serious concerns' about the IPC's ability to collect data from territories controlled by the RSF."

The IPC report, released Tuesday, states that "the FRC classifies famine (IPC phase 5) for the period of October to November 2024 in Zamzam, Abu Shouk, and Al Salam camps, as well as in the Western Nuba Mountains, affecting both residents and IDPs. Between December 2024 and May 2025, famine (IPC phase 5) is projected to continue in the same areas and expand in the North Darfur localities of Um Kadadah, Melit, El Fasher, At Tawisha, and Al Lait."

"There is a risk of famine in the Central Nuba Mountains and in areas likely to experience high influxes of IDPs in North and South Darfur," the report notes. It adds that "the population in areas of intense conflict in Khartoum (Mayo and Alingaz in Jebel Awlia) and Al Jazirah (Medani Al Kubra and Sharg Al Jazirah) might be experiencing the same conditions as that of the areas classified in famine," but "the lack of recent data prevents the FRC from confirming whether famine thresholds have been surpassed."

The document stresses that "the current analysis reflects the situation during the harvest period, a time when hunger and acute malnutrition are typically at their lowest. From December onwards, there will be few seasonal mitigating factors that could improve conditions on the ground. Only a halt to the conflict, and significant scale-up and scale-out of assistance can prevent an even greater catastrophe."

According to experts, 24.6 million people in Sudan—or half the nation's population—face "high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC phase 3 or above)" and more than 12 million have been displaced by the current conflict, including over 3.2 million who have fled to neighboring countries.

Leaders at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and World Food Program (WFP) expressed concern over the Tuesday report and renewed calls for action.

"We must stop famine in the Sudan—it can be done," said Rein Paulsen, FAO's director of emergencies and resilience. "We need immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver food, water, health, and lifesaving emergency agricultural assistance to pull people from the brink. Above all, the immediate cessation of hostilities is an essential first step. We must act now, collectively, and at scale, for the sake of millions of people whose lives are at risk."

Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP's director of food security and nutrition analysis, emphasized that across Sudan, "people are getting weaker and weaker and are dying as they have had little to no access to food for months and months."

"WFP is doing everything we can to get a steady and constant flow of food assistance to the hungriest and hardest-to-reach places in Sudan," Bauer continued. "We are constantly adapting our operations as the conflict evolves, delivering assistance where and when we can. But recent operational progress is fragile as the situation on the ground is volatile and dangerous."

UNICEF's director of emergency operations, Lucia Elmi, pointed out that "the ongoing conflict, continuous displacements, and recurrent disease outbreaks have created a dangerous breeding ground for malnutrition in Sudan."

"Millions of young lives hang in the balance," Elmi warned. "The delivery of lifesaving therapeutic food, water, and medicine can help stop the deadly malnutrition crisis in its tracks, but we need safe, sustained, and unimpeded access to reach the most vulnerable children and save lives."

Human Rights Watch also took note of the new data and called out the warring parties for "willfully" obstructing aid. As Belkis Wille, an associate director in the crisis, conflict, and arms division of the U.S.-based group, wrote Tuesday:

In South Kordofan's Nuba Mountains, we witnessed famine for ourselves.

In October, we traveled to the Nuba Mountains to interview people displaced by attacks by the RSF and its allies. Witnesses described killings, rape, and destruction in the South Kordofan towns of Habila and Fayu, just 20 km away.

The impact of starvation was clear to see. Almost every person we spoke to bore the marks of hunger. One 8-year-old boy I met, died of starvation during our five-day visit. We saw no international organizations or U.N. agencies providing food assistance during our time there and kept wondering whether some of the people would survive more than a couple of months without aid.

"Before more civilians, including children, die of starvation in Sudan, governments should impose consequences on those responsible. The U.N. Security Council meeting on Sudan on December 19 again contained powerful speeches but little in the way of concrete action," Willie added. "The U.N. and donors should make a concerted push for immediate aid access throughout Sudan and massively increase support to local responders. The U.N. should also be much clearer and public about the scale of the challenges they face. Civilians in the Nuba Mountains and North Darfur cannot wait till the new year."

COMMON DREAMS