The chance to save millions from starving to death in Sudan is rapidly slipping away as famine looms in its war-torn regions, the Rome-based UN World Food Programme has warned, urging nations to take "immediate" action.
"The window to prevent famine is rapidly closing without immediate action," a WFP statement said on Thursday.
Civilians are trapped by fierce fighting in northern Darfur and the start of the rainy season next month threatens to block key transport routes as food stocks run in the lean season, the statement warned.
“The situation is desperate and quickly deteriorating," the statement cited WFP Deputy Executive Director, Carl Skau, as saying after a visit to Sudan this week.
WFP is currently giving life-saving aid to around 2.5 million people and could boost that assistance if warring parties grant access across the front lines and from Chad and South Sudan, Skau said.
“Only a few weeks remain to stock up food supplies in parts of Darfur and Kordofan before the rainy season starts and many roads become impassible. Farmers also need to safely reach their farmlands to plant ahead of the rains,” he added.
At least 5 million people in Sudan are on the brink of starvation, according to The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN-backed global authority on food security.
And WFP experts warn that number may have significantly increased since the last IPC assessment in December 2023.
A preliminary WFP study has identified 41 hunger hotspots that are at high-risk of slipping into famine in the coming month, most of them in war zones including the Darfur and Kordofan region and Khartoum, according to the statement.
Escalating fighting in North Darfur’s capital El Fasher in recent days has killed and injured large numbers of civilians, damaged the only operational hospital in the state, and hampered humanitarian access to the city and beyond, the statement said.
“I urge the warring parties to uphold their obligations under international law to protect civilians and to stop the fighting,” said Skau.
"Concerted diplomatic efforts and more resources are urgently needed to protect civilians and to strengthen the humanitarian response," he said.
"WFP is committed and ready to do its part,” Skau stated, saying the plight of civilians in Sudan has not received the international attention it deserves,
"That must change now," he underlined.
While in Port Sudan, Skau held talks with a senior member of the Sudan Sovereignty Council, the Sudan Federal Humanitarian Aid Commissioner, and Sudan’s Minister of Agriculture, who "recognized the severity of the situation and committed to facilitate cross-line deliveries," he said.
The senior officials also agreed to allow more flexibility in using the Tine border crossing from Chad into North Darfur, and to consider allowing WFP convoys to cross via the currently-closed Adre border crossing, Skau said.
WFP hopes to get more humanitarian access to the Kordofan region, including through a cross-border route from South Sudan amid progress with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North's Al-Hilu faction (SPLM-N (Al-Hilu), according to the statement.
Skau also said he received commitments that the WFP-managed UN Humanitarian Air Service could open an air bridge to Kassala from Port Sudan, and that WFP would be able to bring additional ITC equipment to ensure connectivity in remote field locations.
“These indications are welcome steps to improve the humanitarian operating environment in Sudan. Commitments made by all parties to facilitate humanitarian access urgently need to be translated into realities on the ground,” Skau stated.
WFP has repeatedly been warning that Sudan could become the world’s worst hunger crisis as the conflict between the Sudanese army (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) enters its second year.
Nearly 25 million people - half Sudan's population - need aid and some 8 million have fled their homes, according to the UN.
Immediate action is needed to "prevent widespread death and total collapse of livelihoods and avert a catastrophic hunger crisis in Sudan," the IPC warned in late March. It published an alert "to express major concern" about the deteriorating situation and to push for immediate action "to prevent famine."
