Famine has expanded into two more areas, encompassing a major city within the Darfur region where reports indicate a militia has perpetrated mass killings and caused tens of thousands to evacuate over the past week.
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on Monday, El Fasher in western Darfur and Kadugli in South Kordofan province are now officially experiencing famine. The international organization further noted that an additional twenty areas across the Kordofan and Darfur regions also face a risk of famine.
These two towns have been subjected to sieges by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary faction that has been engaged in conflict with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of the northeastern African nation over the past three years.
Last weekend, the RSF gained control of El Fasher following an 18-month bloody siege that had led to extensive hunger within the city. Individuals who escaped recounted instances of sexual violence, massacres, and civilian executions carried out by the militia as tens of thousands attempted to escape. The city represented the SAF’s final stronghold in the area, and its capture has the potential to destabilize the broader region.
The IPC reported that 21.2 million individuals are grappling with severe acute food insecurity after 30 months of conflict, with 375,000 of them living in “catastrophic conditions.”
The IPC indicated that these famine circumstances are expected to persist until January 2026; however, “favorable agroclimatic conditions” are anticipated to enhance the food security situation post-harvest, potentially leading to a reduction of millions in the number of people experiencing Phase 3 to Phase 5 food insecurity.
Beyond the ongoing conflict, the IPC attributes the food insecurity to deteriorating trade conditions, rampant inflation, and currency devaluation in the area, alongside disrupted trade routes and supply chain interruptions.
A situation defined as Phase 5 on the IPC Acute Food Insecurity scale is identified when one in five households experiences “an extreme absence of food, leading to starvation and destitution, resulting in extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition and death”; additionally, at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition, and two individuals per 10,000 die daily either from outright starvation or from the combined impact of malnutrition and disease.
Since the war commenced in April 2023 and devastated the nation, the IPC has already declared famine in five areas across Sudan. In April of the current year, ten additional areas met the criteria for Phase 5 famine conditions, as the conflict displaced 14 million people. By September, the number of displaced individuals had decreased to nearly 10 million, with millions returning to their residences in certain regions.
In its report, the IPC advocated for the provision of substantial humanitarian assistance to Sudan, but noted that humanitarian aid efforts and local support structures in Sudan are “critically underfunded,” exacerbating hunger in the region and reaching only 21% of the affected population.
It stated that “severely insufficient funding is hindering the urgent escalation of necessary assistance within the country,” noting this as early as . “Although there have been some improvements in humanitarian access in recent months, persistent conflict in Kordofan and Darfur continues to impede regular outreach to those requiring aid.”
The World Food Programme stated that this month, their operations are reaching 4 million individuals in the most severely affected regions, particularly Darfur, Kordofan, Khartoum, and Al Jazira; however, it emphasized an urgent need for $658 million over the next six months to expand assistance to 8 million people monthly.
The U.N. reported that tens of thousands of refugees have departed El Fasher in the past week subsequent to the city’s capture by the RSF, amidst accounts of extensive massacres and sexual violence; however, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) indicated that merely 5,000 individuals have successfully reached safety in Tawila, a city located 30 miles away across the desert.
One of the most severe massacres is thought to have occurred at the Saudi Hospital, which functioned as the final operational medical facility in the city throughout the siege. According to the World Health Organization, at least 460 individuals —including both staff and patients— are believed to have perished in multiple waves of assaults.
The Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health employed satellite imagery to confirm the extent of the situation, along with verifying a previously undisclosed potential mass killing at an RSF detention facility located at the former Children’s Hospital.