A UN spokesman said on Wednesday that evidence of famine conditions has been found in at least five areas of Sudan’s North Darfur and South Kordofan states amid a brutal war between the country’s army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters.
“The Famine Review Committee of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has confirmed that there is reasonable evidence of famine conditions in at least five areas of Sudan: Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps in North Darfur and two locations in the Western Nuba Mountains – which is impacting both residents and internally displaced persons ,” Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres, said in a daily press briefing.
“There are reports of people dying of starvation in some areas like Darfur, Kordofan and Khartoum. Currently, around 638,000 people are confirmed to be in catastrophic hunger conditions ,” Dujarric added.
The UN spokesman added that “a record 4.7 million children under the age of five and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls are suffering from acute malnutrition in Sudan”.
“People in Zamzam camp, which… had been regularly bombed, are resorting to extreme measures to survive because food is so scarce. Families are eating peanut shells mixed with oil which is typically used to feed animals,” he said.
Dujarric called on the parties in Sudan’s war, which broke out in April 2023, “to silence the guns and put the interest of their people first and foremost”.
“We urgently need to expand access and open new corridors – both cross-border and across conflict frontlines – to provide assistance and save people from dying of starvation,” he said.
The UN says Sudan faces the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.
