Urgent report underlines Sudan famine risk as food insecurity worsens
A mother sits with the body of her ten-year-old daughter, Hajar Ishaq, who died of hunger and thirst as they emerged from El Fasher in search of a way out of their lives on the way to a Tawila area in North Darfur (Archive photo: RD Correspondent)
Sudan faces a growing risk of severe food insecurity and famine-like conditions in parts of Darfur and Kordofan as poor rainfall, war, displacement and rising prices squeeze access to food, according to a new early-warning report by conflict analyst and researcher Dr Adeeb Yousif.
The report warns that the situation is deteriorating particularly sharply in areas including El Malha in North Darfur, Jebel Marra, Buram in South Darfur and Tawila in North Darfur. It says declining agricultural production, livestock losses, disrupted markets and restricted humanitarian access are leaving vulnerable communities increasingly unable to meet their basic needs.
Yousif stresses that authorities and humanitarian organisations should act before conditions meet formal famine thresholds.
Yousif’s report warns that Sudan’s deteriorating food security requires urgent action before conditions develop into famine.
“This is not a call to wait for famine; it is a call to act now to prevent it,” Yousif writes.
The report also includes accounts from people in affected communities describing the impact of hunger and malnutrition.
A mother from El Malha, North Darfur, told the report that her child grew progressively weaker before dying from malnutrition.
“I wasn’t asking for much… I just wanted my child to live,” she said.
In Golo, Jebel Marra, a husband described losing his pregnant wife, who was suffering from malnutrition and severe anaemia and needed medical care and a blood transfusion.
“What happened to my wife must not happen to another woman,” he said.
A teacher from Tawila told the report that her youngest child died from malnutrition and hunger during the conflict.
“Dying of hunger is far more painful than dying by a weapon,” she said.
The report says poor rainfall is threatening crop production while shortages of water and pasture is also driving livestock losses. At the same time, rising food prices and severe cash shortages are eroding household purchasing power.
Yousif warns that without early intervention, worsening malnutrition, livestock losses and further displacement could follow.
The report calls for urgent food and water assistance, support for farmers and herders, improved nutrition services, and safe and unhindered humanitarian access. It also urges stronger monitoring of food prices, rainfall, crop and livestock conditions and displacement to ensure warnings trigger action before the crisis becomes uncontainable.
Read the full report here – Sudan: A Wake-Up Call for the World
and then