Over 750,000 people in Sudan at risk of starvation: Global hunger monitor

United Nations’ hunger monitoring system says there’s a risk of famine in 14 areas of Sudan if the conflict escalates.

There is a risk of famine in 14 areas across Sudan if the conflict between military factions escalates, a global hunger monitor has said, noting that it faces “the worst levels of acute food insecurity” ever recorded in the country.

In its assessment published on Thursday, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said after more than a year of war, some 755,000 people are facing “catastrophe”, the most severe level of extreme hunger, while 8.5 million people, or 18 percent of the population, grapple with food shortages that could result in acute malnutrition and death.

The conflict started in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.

An increase in fighting would further restrict aid access to threatened areas, the United Nations’ hunger monitoring system said, warning of the realistic chance of famine in several areas including parts of Darfur, Khartoum, Kordofan and Gezira states.

The IPC said approximately 25.6 million people are likely to experience high levels of acute food insecurity between June and September.

#Sudan 🇸🇩 alert!

14 months into the conflict, Sudan is facing the worst levels of acute #foodinsecurity ever recorded by the IPC in the country.

Read more ▶️: https://t.co/EORSSJtwlt pic.twitter.com/Dm8LzRwl64

— The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (@theIPCinfo) June 27, 2024

Since the IPC warning system was created 20 years ago, famines have only been declared twice: in parts of Somalia in 2011 and in parts of South Sudan in 2017.

Reporting from Omdurman, Al Jazeera’s Hiba Morgan said that many people in Sudan depend on community kitchens to survive after the conflict broke out in April last year.

“More than half of working-aged Sudanese worked in non-formal sectors before the conflict. Lack of access to those jobs as fighting continues means many have lost their income,” Morgan said, adding that fighting has also limited supplies in markets and increased food costs.

That combination means that many people “can no longer afford to feed their families,” she said.

Taj Elsir Abdel-Daim, a day labourer from Omdurman, told Al Jazeera that he lost his job and was forced to move his family several times because of the conflict. They now stay in a school that shelters displaced people.

“I come here [to a community kitchen] daily and sometimes go to other kitchens to get two meals a day,” he said.

More than 10 million people have been displaced within Sudan, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in June, and 7.26 million people have fled their homes. This adds to the 2.83 million individuals already displaced by previous conflicts.

More than a quarter of Sudan’s 48 million residents have now been forced to flee their homes, with more than two million crossing international borders.