Famine Risk in South Sudan, Sudan
- The UN warned South Sudan is nearing 'full‑scale famine' as aid access becomes increasingly restricted. - A separate report says 34 million people in Sudan now require humanitarian assistance, with women and children worst affected. - Both crises are intensifying pressure on relief funding and peacekeeping resources, though they drew far less market attention than oil shocks (maktoobmedia.com, elciudadano.com)
South Sudan is edging toward famine in parts of Upper Nile as fighting and blocked aid routes cut off food during the lean season. (wfp.org) The World Food Programme said more than half the country — 7.56 million people — is expected to face crisis-level hunger or worse between April and July 2026. It said 28,000 people in Luakpiny/Nasir and Fangak counties are already in Catastrophe, the most extreme food insecurity category before famine is declared. (wfp.org) A separate food security outlook said famine could occur if conflict further isolates communities and blocks movement, markets, and humanitarian deliveries through the June-to-September lean and flood seasons. It projected 32 South Sudan counties in Emergency hunger conditions during June through September. (reliefweb.int) Aid access has already worsened. A January 2026 humanitarian access snapshot said hostilities, staff relocations, and attacks on aid operations sharply reduced access across South Sudan. (reliefweb.int) Across the border in Sudan, the emergency is even larger in raw numbers. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said 33.7 million people in Sudan need humanitarian assistance in 2026, up 3.3 million from 2025 and the highest figure recorded globally. (unocha.org) Women, girls, and children are bearing much of that burden. OCHA said children make up 60 percent of people in need in Sudan, while UN Women said more than 17 million women and girls need humanitarian assistance after three years of war. (reliefweb.int, unwomen.org) The two crises are linked. The war in Sudan has pushed refugees and returnees into South Sudan, adding pressure to food systems and aid pipelines that were already strained by conflict, climate shocks, and economic instability. (wfp.org, news.un.org) Sudan’s war began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, and aid agencies say the conflict has shattered health services, displaced millions, and left the heaviest needs in South Darfur, Aj Jazirah, Khartoum, and North Darfur. OCHA says 11.4 million people in those four states alone require urgent assistance, including 2.3 million facing catastrophic levels of need. (unocha.org, unocha.org) Relief agencies are also short of money. The World Food Programme said it needs $321 million for South Sudan operations through April 2026, while Sudan’s 2026 humanitarian response plan seeks $4.2 billion to reach nearly 21 million people. (wfp.org, unocha.org) For both countries, the next few months are decisive: South Sudan faces the lean season and likely floods, and Sudan enters a third year of war with record humanitarian need and no broad political settlement in place. (reliefweb.int, unocha.org)
