The report says that the situation is “especially critical” for those trapped in the areas experiencing direct conflict – particularly in Greater Darfur, Greater Kordofan, Khartoum and Al Jazirah states – where aid and food supplies have been heavily restricted.
It adds that where safety nets and local responses in these areas have prevented the further decline of food insecurity, the “sustainability” of these mechanisms “remains unclear”, particularly in conflict affected areas where food stocks are close to depletion.
“These new figures should make our blood run cold,” said Dr Arif Noor, Save the Children Country Director in Sudan. “Fourteen months of devastating conflict have turned Sudan’s breadbasket into battlefields.”
The insecurity has decimated Sudan’s once thriving agricultural areas – including Darfur, Kordofan and Khartoum – upending food systems, killing thousands of farmers, and bleeding markets dry.
“Many farmers tell us it’s too dangerous for them to plant or harvest due to the presence of armed groups, while traders and food trucks get looted and obstructed on the roads, and aid convoys are obstructed and denied permits,” said Elsadig Elnour, Islamic Relief Country Director in Sudan.
The IPC report also warned that the looming rainy season – that has already seen floods devastated pockets of eastern Africa – will further hinder the agricultural yield with the spread of pests and plant diseases.
UN officials warned on Monday that Sudan is facing a famine that could reach levels worse than the world has seen since Ethiopia 40 years ago, as aid deliveries continue to be blocked by the warring armies.
With much of global media attention and donor funding focussed on Gaza, where another human-made food security is spiralling out of control, Sudan has been left to plunge towards a disaster of historic scale.
A recent UN humanitarian appeal for the country received just 16 per cent of the humanitarian funds required.
“Hunger and malnutrition are spreading at alarming rates, and without concerted international action and funding, there is a very real danger the situation will spiral out of all control,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.
“There is no time to lose. Any delay in unfettered access to vulnerable populations will be measured in the loss of children’s lives.”
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