Sudan famine risk
- Sudan's war is deepening into a famine-era crisis, with lifesaving aid routes likely to be cut off during the rainy season. (worldvision.org) - More than 12 million people have been uprooted and about 25 million are going hungry, the briefing reports. (respublica.media) - A UN report says Libya supplied equipment and Colombian mercenaries to Sudan's RSF, adding external complexity to the conflict. (newarab.com)
Sudan is heading into the June rainy season with aid agencies warning that roads into some of the hungriest areas could soon become impassable. (wfp.org) The World Food Programme says hunger is expected to worsen from February 2026 as food stocks run out and fighting continues, and it needs $610 million to sustain operations from March through August. (wfp.org) World Vision said malnourished children in Darfur could become “nearly unreachable” during the four-month rainy season, when flooding and mud cut off overland access and force agencies to rely on far smaller air deliveries. (worldvision.org) Sudan is already the world’s largest displacement crisis. The United Nations says 9.3 million people are displaced inside the country, 4.4 million have fled across borders, and more than 2.2 million people returned to their home areas during shifts in front lines in 2025. (unocha.org) Food insecurity is spread far beyond one front line. An IPC analysis cited by ReliefWeb said famine has been confirmed in parts of Sudan for a second time in less than a year, while 19.1 million people were projected to face crisis-level hunger or worse between February and May 2026. (reliefweb.int, ipcinfo.org) The war began on April 15, 2023, when a power struggle between Sudan’s military and the Rapid Support Forces erupted into open fighting in Khartoum and spread across the country. By April 2026, United Nations agencies said 14 million people were displaced, hunger was rising, and attacks on health care were continuing as the war approached its third anniversary. (apnews.com, ungeneva.org) The conflict has also become more international. A newly released United Nations Panel of Experts report on Libya found that an armed group in Libya supplied the Rapid Support Forces with equipment, fuel and Colombian fighters, according to the Associated Press. (apnews.com) Those findings add to earlier reporting about outside backing for both sides, even as aid agencies say the immediate bottleneck is simpler: food has to be moved and prepositioned before the rains close roads. (wfpusa.org) If that does not happen in the next few weeks, the next phase of Sudan’s war will be shaped not only by battles over territory, but by which communities can still be reached with food once the rains begin. (wfp.org, worldvision.org)
