Famine Conditions Spread in Sudan Amid World’s Worst Hunger Crisis
'Preventable deaths are already occurring and will continue to rise without urgent action,' the UN-backed global food monitor warns, as fighting rages between the Sudanese army and the RSF.
Famine conditions have spread to two more areas in Sudan’s North Darfur region, the UN-backed global hunger monitor warned Thursday, as fighting rages between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary and the Sudanese army.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, found that acute malnutrition reached famine levels in Um Baru and Kernoi, two localities near the Chad border that have received an influx of displaced people from El-Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur state that RSF captured from the Sudanese military in October 2025. The paramilitary killed tens of thousands of civilians in its bloody takeover and forced more to flee.
The IPC does not formally declare famine, but warned that the hunger levels in both localities surpassed the famine threshold, and many other inaccessible areas may be facing “similarly catastrophic conditions.”
“Preventable deaths are already occurring and will continue to rise without urgent action,” the IPC warned.
Famine was declared in parts of Sudan in August 2024 amid mass internal displacement. The UAE-backed RSF has been fighting with the Sudanese Armed Forces since April 2023. Last year, just before leaving office, the Biden administration accused the RSF of genocide and both groups of committing war crimes.
RSF units are advancing around UM Bari and Kernoi, the IPC said, which has forced thousands of civilians to flee from urban to rural areas. Kernoi is “reportedly largely deserted,” and people in Um Baru avoid staying in the town overnight.
A December 2025 UNICEF nutrition survey in Um Baru found that more than half of children under 5 were acutely malnourished. One in six suffered from severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous level of hunger that can kill a child within weeks.
Across Sudan, nearly 4.2 million people are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition this year. That includes 800,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition – a 13% increase from 2025. According to the UN’s World Food Program, Sudan is experiencing the largest hunger crisis, with 21.2 million people facing acute food insecurity.
Donald Trump’s evisceration of humanitarian funding has exacerbated the hunger crisis. The US was the top humanitarian donor to Sudan, with USAID accounting for nearly 44% of the nation’s aid in 2024. Part of the aid funded neighborhood relief groups that supported community kitchens across Sudan. Roughly 80% of the kitchens were forced to close when USAID funding stopped.
The UN’s 2026 aid plan for Sudan needs $2.9 billion to help 20.4 million people – but Thursday’s IPC alert warned it has only 5.5% of the funding it needs.
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