Global food monitor says famine has taken hold in Sudan's Darfur

The war in Sudan and restrictions on aid deliveries have caused famine in at least one site in North Darfur, and have likely led to famine conditions in other parts of the conflict region, a committee of food security experts said in a report on Thursday.

The finding, linked to an internationally recognised standard known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), is just the third time a famine determination has been made since the system was set up 20 years ago.

It shows how starvation and disease are taking a deadly toll in Sudan, where more than 15 months of war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have created the world's biggest internal displacement crisis and left 25 million people — or half the population — in urgent need of humanitarian aid.

Experts and UN officials say a famine classification could trigger a UN Security Council resolution empowering agencies to deliver relief across borders to the most needy.

In its report, the Famine Review Committee (FRC) found that famine, confirmed when acute malnutrition and mortality criteria are met, was ongoing in North Darfur's Zamzam camp for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and likely to persist there at least until October.

Zamzam has a population of 500,000. It is near the city of al-Fashir, home to 1.8 million people and the last significant holdout from the RSF across Darfur. The RSF has been besieging the area and no aid has reached the sprawling camp for months.

The primary causes of famine in Zamzam camp are conflict and severely restricted humanitarian access, the FRC said.

It said it was plausible that similar conditions were affecting other areas in Darfur including the displaced people camps of Abu Shouk and Al Salam.

In late June, an IPC process led by the Sudanese government found that 14 areas in the country, including parts of El Gezira, Kordofan and Khartoum states, were at risk of famine.

Reuters has reported that some Sudanese have been forced to eat leaves and soil, and that satellite imagery showed cemeteries expanding fast as starvation and disease spread.

A Reuters analysis of satellite images identified 14 burial grounds in Darfur that had expanded rapidly in recent months. One cemetery in Zamzam grew 50% faster in the period between March 28 and May 3 than in the preceding three-and-a-half months. The analysis was used by the famine review committee as indirect evidence of increasing mortality.

LEAN SEASON

The FRC finding comes during Sudan's lean season, when food availability is lowest. Experts fear that even when harvest season comes in October, crops will be scarce because war prevented farmers from planting.

Sudan's war erupted in mid-April last year from a power struggle between Sudan's army and the RSF ahead of an internationally backed political transition towards civilian rule.

The factions had shared power uneasily after staging a coup in 2021 that derailed a previous transition following the overthrow of autocrat Omar al-Bashir two years earlier.

Since the war began, aid workers say international relief has been blocked by the army and looted by the RSF. Both sides deny impeding aid.

Even where markets have supplies, many Sudanese cannot buy food because of soaring prices and a lack of cash.

In February, the military-backed government prohibited aid deliveries from Chad to Darfur through the Adre border crossing, one of the shortest routes to the hunger-stricken region. Government officials have claimed that the crossing is used by the RSF to move weapons.

The alternative Tine border crossing is currently inaccessible because of heavy rain, according to the UN humanitarian agency, OCHA.

The FRC called for a ceasefire and “unhindered access” into Darfur.

'ILL-WISHERS'

Sudan's government, which is aligned with the army, has signalled its opposition to any famine declaration.

Al-Harith Idriss, Sudan's envoy at the UN, said in late June that a famine “dictated from above” could lead “ill-wishers to intervene in Sudan”.

Nicholas Haan, a member of the FRC and cofounder of the IPC, said he hoped the finding would “shake people, the power brokers, to respond as they need to”.

“And that means humanitarian access, that means funding at the level that needs to be funded ... and it means all due political pressure to end the conflict.”

The IPC is an initiative of more than a dozen UN agencies, regional bodies and aid groups and is the main global system for measuring food crises. Its most extreme warning is Phase 5, which has two levels, catastrophe and famine. The conditions for classifying an area to be in famine are that at least 20% of the population must be suffering extreme food shortages, with 30% of children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or from malnutrition and disease.

In Zamzam, the FRC said data from Médecins Sans Frontières on acute malnutrition from January 2024 revealed rates exceeding the IPC famine threshold, while the mortality rate reached 1.9 deaths in every 10,000 people per day.

Since the IPC process began, famine has been declared in parts of Somalia in 2011 and in parts of South Sudan in 2017.

How bad is the hunger crisis in Sudan and what does famine mean?

A global food monitor concluded on Thursday that war in Sudan had caused famine at a camp for displaced people in North Darfur, and similar conditions may exist elsewhere in the region.

The finding comes amid a deepening hunger crisis across Sudan triggered by war between two military factions, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which erupted on 15 April 2023.

WHAT IS FAMINE AND WHO CONFIRMS ONE?

Famine is assessed by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an initiative of more than a dozen UN agencies, regional bodies and aid groups.

It is the main global system for measuring the severity of food crises. Its most extreme warning is Phase 5, which has two levels, catastrophe and famine.

For famine to be declared, at least 20% of the population in an area must be suffering extreme food shortages, with 30% of children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease.

If the IPC or one of its partners finds that at least one area is in famine, a famine review committee (FRC), led by up to six experts, is activated.

Famine has been declared twice since the process was created: in parts of Somalia in 2011 and in parts of South Sudan in 2017.

WHAT DOES FAMINE CLASSIFICATION MEAN?

While a famine classification does not trigger any formal response, it can focus global attention.

Experts and UN officials say in Sudan's case, a famine classification could lead to measures including a UN Security Council resolution empowering agencies to deliver relief across borders, similar to one used for Syria in 2014.

However, a resolution could be subject to veto, and the army has signalled its opposition to a famine classification, for fear of losing the authority to control its borders.

Two UN officials in Sudan told Reuters that as long as an army-backed government holds a seat in the UN general assembly, UN agencies have to seek its consent in respect to state sovereignty.

Efforts to send in aid could be complicated by RSF control over Darfur. Experts say any aid mission would need an international force to create a humanitarian corridor.

WHAT IS THE CURRENT ASSESSMENT IN SUDAN?

The FRC findings published on Thursday say Zamzam is likely to remain in famine conditions at least until October.

The committee said it was limiting its conclusions to Zamzam due to limited data and the nature of the request it was acting on.

“Other areas of Sudan, both within Darfur and elsewhere, are potentially experiencing famine, and will remain at risk of famine as long as the conflict continues, and humanitarian access is denied,” it said.

The IPC previously found that around half of Sudan's 50 million people face crisis levels of hunger.

Some 755,262 people, including those in Zamzam, faced “catastrophic” levels of hunger, and there was a risk of famine in 14 sites across the country, the IPC said in June.

HOW BAD IS SUDAN'S HUMANITARIAN CRISIS?

Sudan's humanitarian crisis is one of the worst in the world.

The war has ripped through civilian areas including the capital Khartoum, catching civilians in the crossfire. In the western region of Darfur, the RSF and its allies are accused of ethnic cleansing, charges they have denied.

The conflict has left Sudan with more internally displaced people than any other country. An estimated 10.7 million people have fled their homes, according to the International Organization for Migration, including 7.9 million during the current war.

A further 2.3 million have crossed into neighbouring countries since mid-April last year, with Chad, South Sudan and Egypt each receiving hundreds of thousands of refugees.

The World Health Organisation says Sudan's health system is hanging by a thread, with just one quarter of health facilities functional in areas hardest hit by the war and nearly 15 million people requiring urgent health assistance for their survival.

WHY IS THE SITUATION SO DIRE?

Sudan was already struggling before fighting erupted, dragged down by sanctions and isolation under former leader Omar al-Bashir, and by political upheaval and economic stagnation after he was overthrown in 2019.

Since the war began, aid agencies say they have faced huge logistical, security and bureaucratic problems.

They say the army has blocked humanitarian aid, and the RSF has looted it in areas it controls. Both sides have denied impeding humanitarian operations.

Local volunteers have tried to fill the gap, but have often been treated with suspicion, targeted, or struggled to raise donations.

Agriculture, which most of the population depends on for income, has been badly disrupted by the fighting.

Even when food is available, people struggle to buy it. Banks have collapsed, leaving many dependent on mobile payments that are disrupted by outages, or cash devalued by inflation.