A rebel group controlling Sudan’s Nuba Mountains and parts of the Blue Nile state issued a dire warning on Wednesday, reporting a catastrophic hunger crisis and a famine affecting the local population.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) revealed that 20% of families in these regions are facing severe food shortages, while 30% of children are suffering from malnutrition.
The situation is described as “famine” in an Arabic version of the group’s statement, according to Reuters.
The SPLM-N blames the ongoing civil war in Sudan and a poor harvest for exacerbating the crisis.
The group noted that the food situation in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile is “the most severe compared to other states,” with food stocks rapidly depleting as they are shared among the struggling communities.
The territories under SPLM-N control are home to approximately 3.9 million people, a number that has increased as more individuals have been displaced by the fighting from other parts of the country.
Sudan’s broader conflict between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has plunged half of the nation’s 50 million people into food insecurity, surpassing Yemen as possibly the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a global hunger monitor, around 756,000 people across Sudan are facing catastrophic hunger.
Both the army and RSF have been accused of obstructing aid deliveries and damaging vital infrastructure needed for food production and distribution.
The SPLM-N further accused the government aligned with the army in Port Sudan of selling aid intended for the affected regions, while the RSF was said to be closing markets and blocking access to essential supplies.
The statement also highlighted that civilian villages in both regions have been targeted through a scorched earth policy, resulting in the burning of crops, destruction of homes, and forced displacement of residents to camps.
The Zamzam camp, located near el-Fasher city in Darfur, has been particularly hard hit by famine since the civil war erupted 16 months ago, causing an influx of 500,000 displaced people.
The overpopulation of the camps, which surged in April, has contributed significantly to the worsening humanitarian crisis, with the Sudanese Army and RSF forcing a whopping 10 million people to flee their homes.
According to the latest IPC assessment, 25.6 million people, or 54% of Sudan’s population, are experiencing severe acute food insecurity, with 14 districts at risk of famine.
Reports from Fews Net suggest that starvation may already be occurring in the Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps near el-Fasher, although such reports have not yet been confirmed.
To classify a region as experiencing famine, at least 20% of households must be facing extreme food shortages, 30% of children must be critically malnourished, and the mortality rate must be at least two deaths per 10,000 people per day due to starvation, malnutrition, or related illnesses.
Since April, the RSF has been fighting to reclaim el-Fasher, the last city under military control in Darfur’s western region.
The UN’s genocide prevention expert warned in May that the violence in Darfur, particularly targeting non-Arab ethnic groups, bears a disturbing resemblance to the ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Arab Janjaweed militias two decades ago.
The primary market in Zamzam camp has been intermittently open, with food prices skyrocketing in June—cooking oil increased by 63%, sugar by 190%, millet by 67%, and rice by 75%.
Barrett Alexander of the humanitarian organization Mercy Corps warned that the severe conditions reported from el-Fasher, especially in the Zamzam camp, are “merely the tip of the iceberg.”
He noted that, based on experience with past famines, widespread deaths likely occur long before an official famine declaration is made.
Recent assessments by Mercy Corps in Central and South Darfur have shown that nine out of ten children are facing life-threatening malnutrition, further highlighting the scale of the crisis unfolding in Sudan.