After enduring one thousand days since the outbreak of bloody fighting between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces in April 2023, Sudan is now facing one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. According to a UNICEF report, the violence has led to a situation in which, by 2026, two-thirds of the country’s population (33.7 million people) will require humanitarian assistance, and an estimated 21 million people are expected to face acute food insecurity.
Sudan has now passed one thousand days of internal war between the national army and the Rapid Support Forces, a conflict that began in April 2023. This violence has triggered one of the largest humanitarian crises in the world. Based on UNICEF estimates, 33.7 million people—equivalent to two-thirds of the population—will need aid in 2026, while 21 million are projected to experience acute food insecurity.
Children make up half of those affected, and approximately 5,000 people are displaced every day due to ongoing violence.
According to Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), hunger is increasingly becoming gendered. Households headed by women are three times more likely to experience food insecurity, and 75 percent of them lack sufficient food.
Meanwhile, the United Nations has called for immediate humanitarian access to affected areas, including the cities of El Fasher and Kadugli, where famine-like conditions are worsening under the continued siege by armed groups.
UN officials warn that without urgent assistance, the situation will deteriorate even further.
In a statement, the World Food Programme (WFP) said that the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis shows no sign of easing, while the agency struggles to continue its emergency operations.
Ross Smith, WFP’s Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, said: “Our hard-won gains—reaching millions of people in need—are now at risk of being undone. The World Food Programme has been forced to reduce rations to the absolute minimum for survival.”
Smith added that WFP’s food stocks in Sudan will be depleted by the end of March, stating: “Without immediate additional funding, millions of people will be left without vital food assistance within weeks.”
According to the World Food Programme, around 1.8 million people in famine-affected or famine-risk areas have received regular monthly assistance over the past six months. Recent progress, including the arrival of a joint UN convoy to Kadugli in October, has provided limited access to families who had been cut off from aid for months.
Mizan News Agency