Sudan Faces a “Hunger Catastrophe”, WFP Warns

The World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that Sudan faces a “hunger catastrophe” if regular food aid is not delivered to the country that has been ravaged by war spanning eight months.

“Parts of war-ravaged Sudan are at a high risk of slipping into catastrophic hunger conditions by next year’s lean season,” the WFP said in a statement.

The UN agency said this could happen if it is unable to expand access and deliver regular food assistance to people trapped in conflict hotspots including the capital Khartoum.

On April 15, Sudan’s Army Chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), turned their guns on each other.

So far, the United Nations has recorded seven million people displaced across Sudan, which, combined with the lack of good harvests, means hunger stalks large parts of the African country.

“Nearly 18 million people across Sudan are facing acute hunger … more than double the number at the same time a year ago,” the statement by WFP adds.

A new food analysis for Sudan, “once described as East Africa’s future breadbasket”, the statement said, “shows the highest levels of hunger ever recorded during the harvest season (October through February), typically a period where more food is available”.

WFP Country Director and Representative in Sudan Eddie Rowe said on Wednesday it was urgently calling “on all parties to the conflict for a humanitarian pause and unfettered access to avert a hunger catastrophe”.