WFP warns of worsening starvation crisis in Sudan

World Relief Programme, Photo: World Food Programme

 

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued an urgent warning that tens of thousands of civilians in the Sudanese city of el-Fasher are facing starvation, as the city remains cut off from food supplies due to an ongoing siege by paramilitary forces.

El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and home to an estimated 250,000 people, has been surrounded by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for over a year. The blockade has prevented humanitarian convoys from reaching the city, causing food shortages, collapsing healthcare services, and reported deaths from starvation.

WFP’s regional director for East Africa, Michael Dunford, stated that humanitarian access to El-Fasher is urgently needed to prevent a full-scale famine. “People are dying of hunger right now. We are seeing children waste away and families forced to survive on leaves and groundnut shells,” he said in a recent press briefing.

The agency reports that no food aid has been delivered by road to El-Fasher in over 12 months, and air drops remain risky due to the escalating conflict.

Local activists and aid workers describe a deteriorating situation. With basic supplies dwindling, families are skipping meals, sharing scraps of food, and watching loved ones succumb to hunger. Bakeries have stopped operating, and many hospitals are shut down due to a lack of fuel, medicine, and staff.

“The humanitarian crisis in el-Fasher is catastrophic,” a Sudanese aid worker told Reuters. “Even if people escape, they have nowhere to go. Displacement camps are overcrowded and face the same shortages.”

The RSF, originally formed from the Janjaweed militia, has been engaged in a brutal power struggle with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 2023. The siege of El-Fasher is part of the wider civil war that has devastated Sudan and displaced more than nine million people.

Despite a recent UN Security Council resolution calling for unrestricted humanitarian access and a ceasefire, RSF forces continue to block aid routes. In July, a UN convoy attempting to deliver supplies to North Darfur was ambushed, resulting in multiple fatalities.

The WFP and other UN agencies are urging the international community to act swiftly. “We need diplomatic pressure, humanitarian corridors, and immediate funding to stop what could become one of the worst famines of the 21st century,” said Dunford.

Meanwhile, the people of el-Fasher remain trapped—starving in silence, as war and politics continue to block life-saving aid.