US, EU and 30 Countries Warn of Sudan Famine Risk, Say 19.5 Million Face Acute Hunger

Since the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) went to war in April 2023, Sudan has become the site of the world's largest hunger and displacement crises. On Monday, Oct. 26, the United States, the European Union's crisis commissioner and more than 30 countries put their names to a joint statement saying that crisis is getting worse.

The State Department released the text. Signatories include Australia, Canada, the UK, France and Germany, plus the European Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management. Most of the rest are European governments.

"Sudan is experiencing an alarming deterioration in its food security," the statement said. "The risk of famine in the coming months, as warned by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, needs urgent action."

The numbers in the statement

The statement says more than 40 percent of Sudan's population, an estimated 19.5 million people, face acute food insecurity. About 5 million of them are at emergency levels.

It also says the number of children with severe acute malnutrition "could exceed the projected 825,000" without immediate action. The number of food-insecure areas, initially assessed at 14, is expected to double, according to the text as relayed by the Sudanese outlet Dabanga.

The UN-backed hunger monitor, known as the IPC, said in June that 5.1 million people in Sudan faced severe hunger. The statement names two drivers: conflict, which it calls the principal one, and El Niño-linked drought. Dabanga's account of the statement says the drought has cut rainfall across more than half the country.

Farmers have struggled to harvest since the war began. The IPC has said the drought pushed up food prices and cut supplies this year.

What the signatories are demanding

The statement says the warring parties "bear primary responsibility for alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people." It asks them to lift "all impediments on humanitarian assistance."

The specific asks:

• Authorize aid operations across all front lines and cross-border routes, including air access into Darfur.
• Cut visa and customs delays, extend visa and travel-permit validity, and drop extra permits and taxes that slow deliveries.
• "Sustain presence and protection of humanitarian personnel" throughout the country.
• Stop striking civilian infrastructure, including agricultural and food systems.

The signatories also urged the international community to "urgently scale up funding." They asked financial institutions to adapt their ongoing programs to the food security situation, according to the statement.

The statement sets no deadline and attaches no dollar figure to the funding request. The signatories have not announced new pledges.

A war with no legitimate winner, per Washington

The State Department said last month that neither the Sudanese army, the RSF nor either side's leaders "represent legitimate, constitutional governance for Sudan." That leaves donors asking two armed factions for access while recognizing neither as a legitimate government.

The human toll is large and its measurement is disputed. Aid workers estimate the war has killed more than 200,000 people, according to AFP. Other accounts say tens of thousands. Displacement is put at more than 13 million in some tallies and more than 14 million in others.

In July, a UN probe concluded that RSF forces carried out mass killings, rapes and forced starvation in a city they besieged and captured last year, as part of an intentional policy amounting to genocide. Washington has also leveled accusations against the RSF.

Violence continues alongside the hunger. Drone strikes since mid-October have killed well over 150 people in separate attacks, as covered in our earlier reporting.

Reaction inside Sudan

Dabanga reports that the Emergency Lawyers group welcomed the joint statement. The displaced people's coordination body went further and called for a 90-day humanitarian truce in Sudan.

That is a bigger ask than the statement makes. The signatories request access and protection for aid, not a ceasefire.

Al Jazeera lists a report that army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has vowed to retake all territory from the RSF. A leader publicly committed to a military solution is not an obvious partner for a pause in fighting.

What to watch

Darfur is the pressure point. The statement singles out air access into the region, and the IPC warning it cites concerns the coming months.

A joint statement is not food. Whether the army or the RSF authorizes any of the requested routes, and whether any signatory attaches money to its signature, are the open questions. The projected 825,000 children with severe acute malnutrition is the figure the signatories say could be exceeded.