SUDAN – The World Food Programme (WFP) has issued a stark warning that Sudan is now experiencing the largest hunger crisis in the world, with nearly 25 million people, half of the country population, facing food insecurity. Among them, 3,5 million women and children are at risk of severe malnutrition.
In its latest report released Thursday, the agency highlighted that conditions in the besieged city of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, have grown increasingly desperate. Residents have resorted to eating animal fodder and scarps of discarded food, while community kitchens have shut down due to shortages and rising costs following the closure of trade routes and supply lines.
“Everyone in El Fasher is facing a daily struggle for survival,” said WFP’s regional director, Eric Pederson. “Without immediate and sustained access for humanitarian organizations, many people will die.”
The WFP is appealing for $645 million over the next six months to sustain emergency food deliveries across Sudan. While the program is currently providing digital cash assistance to some 250,000 people in El Fasher, officials stressed these efforts are nowhere near sufficient to meet the overwhelming needs.
The situation in displacement camps is equally dire. At Tawila camp in North Darfur, around 400,000 displaced people are surviving on basic food rations distributed by WFP, including fortified biscuits, sorghum, and oil. Many who fled to the camp described harrowing journeys from hunger-stricken areas, where some died of thirst along the way.
WFP supply chain director Corinne fleischer said convoys of food aid are ready to move toward El Fasher but remain stalled due to insecurity. “We have trucks loaded with assistance waiting to go, but we need assurance of safe passage,” she noted. The agency confirmed that the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have no far refused to pause fighting to allow the opening of humanitarian corridors.
The humanitarian blockade has pushed El Fasher into the second year under siege. RSF forces led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, have tightened control around the city, cutting off food and medical supplies and leaving markets depleted.
The WFP repeated its call for $645 million in funding to prevent further deterioration, warning that gains made in some areas could quickly collapse if relief routes remain closed.
On Wednesday, UNICEF also sounded the alarm over the crisis in El Fasher, which has been under siege for more than 500 days. The agency said children are enduring hunger, disease, and violence on a daily basis, with no humanitarian deliveries reaching the city for the past 16 months.
