Sudan: Drought and War Push Darfur and Kordofan Towards Famine

The risk of famine is growing in parts of Sudan already torn apart by war, as a severe El Niño drought makes life even harder in Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, the UN-backed global hunger monitor warned on Monday.

In a new alert, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said fresh evidence shows malnutrition getting worse in several hotspots. Aid is not keeping up, held back by a severe lack of funding, insecurity and restricted access.

The IPC food insecurity alert index is a global partnership that includes the UN emergency food agency WFP and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

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In Eastern Jebel Marra, South Darfur, a survey of two camps for displaced people found acute malnutrition among children at 38 and 30.8 per cent - above the threshold for famine. Hunger was severe and death rates were high.

Across Greater Darfur, 13 of the 17 nutrition surveys carried out since January found critical levels of acute malnutrition.

In Nyala, the share of children seeking nutrition help who needed treatment for severe acute malnutrition more than doubled between January and August, from five to 11 per cent.

Drought on top of war

Drought now covers more than half of Sudan, wiping out crops in some areas and leaving families without food or income.

In North Darfur, 64 per cent of cropland is showing poor plant growth.

Rains arrived in late September, too late to save most cereal crops, the alert said, and cereal prices are very likely to keep rising.

Greater Kordofan, described in the alert as the epicentre of Sudan's conflict, has seen more than 300,000 people forced from their homes since October 2025. Markets have been hit by more than 170 airstrikes, looting incidents or armed clashes this year.

Aid workers face extreme danger. Two trucks contracted by WFP came under fire on 2 and 3 October, killing at least one person.

Children are going without treatment. As of August, only 26 per cent of those expected to need care for severe acute malnutrition with medical complications had received it. Without treatment, as many as two thirds of them could die.

As of 8 October, less than half of the humanitarian appeal for Sudan had been funded.

'A humanitarian catastrophe'

The IPC's Famine Review Committee said there is not enough survey data for a full analysis, but the evidence points to a rapidly worsening situation.

"Famine is the collapse of systems," the committee said. "We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe, already of historic proportions."

The alert called for an end to the fighting, safe and sustained access for aid agencies - especially in North and West Kordofan - and flexible funding on a large scale. Without a major increase in help, it warned, more lives will be at risk.