A global hunger monitoring organisation has issued a stark warning that famine is spreading across Sudan's war-torn Darfur region, with two more towns now engulfed by catastrophic food insecurity. The announcement comes as the brutal conflict, which erupted in April 2023, continues to devastate the East African nation.
Famine Confirmed in Additional Towns
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, confirmed on Thursday that famine has now been detected in the towns of Umm Baru and Kernoi within Darfur. This development follows the group's previous declaration last year that people in Darfur's major city of el-Fasher were enduring famine after an 18-month siege by paramilitary forces.
In Umm Baru, nearly 53% of children aged between six months and five years suffer from acute malnutrition, while 32% of children in Kernoi face the same harrowing ordeal. The IPC report stated that these alarming rates suggest an increased risk of excess mortality and raise serious concerns that nearby areas may be experiencing similar catastrophic conditions.
Escalating Humanitarian Catastrophe
The fall of el-Fasher to the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group in October 2025 triggered a mass exodus of people to nearby towns, severely straining the resources of neighbouring communities and driving food insecurity rates to unprecedented levels. With this latest report, the total number of famine-stricken areas in Sudan has risen to nine distinct locations.
In 2024, famine had already struck five other areas in North Darfur and Sudan's Nuba Mountains region. The United Nations estimates that over 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, though aid agencies believe the true number could be many times higher. More than 14 million people have been forced to flee their homes, creating one of the world's largest displacement crises.
Conflict Context and Recent Violence
The report on the spread of famine emerged alongside news of a deadly attack on Thursday by the RSF on a military hospital in southern Sudan. The assault in the town of Kouik in South Kordofan province killed 22 people, including the hospital's medical director and three other medical staff members, according to the Sudan Doctors' Network.
Since April 2023, war has gripped much of Sudan following a power struggle between the country's military and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. This conflict has triggered what the United Nations describes as the world's worst current humanitarian crisis, with food production and supply lines severely disrupted in besieged towns and isolated areas.
Historical Context of Famine Declarations
The IPC has confirmed famine only a few times in recent history, most recently in 2025 in northern Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war. Prior to that, the organisation confirmed famine in Somalia in 2011, and in South Sudan in both 2017 and 2020. The rarity of such declarations underscores the severity of the current situation in Sudan.
According to expert criteria, famine is determined in areas where deaths from malnutrition-related causes reach at least two people, or four children under five years of age, per 10,000 people. Additionally, at least one in five people or households must severely lack food and face starvation, while a minimum of 30% of children under age five must suffer from acute malnutrition based on weight-to-height measurements.
Regional Shifts in Conflict Dynamics
After the RSF overran el-Fasher, which represented one of the army's last strongholds in Darfur, fighting has recently concentrated in regions of Kordofan. However, the Sudanese military has since been making gains in Kordofan by breaking a siege in Kadugli and the neighbouring town of Dilling.
The IPC report specifically warned that more people might face extreme hunger in Kordofan, where the ongoing conflict has severely disrupted food production and supply chains in besieged towns and isolated communities. The Rome-based group pleaded that an immediate and sustained ceasefire is critical to avert further destitution, starvation, and death in the affected parts of Sudan.
The humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate as the conflict shows no signs of abating, with international observers warning that without urgent intervention, the famine could spread to additional regions across Sudan, creating an even more devastating human tragedy.
