A devastating war nearing its two-year mark has plunged Sudan into what the United Nations now describes as the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, making it the only country currently experiencing famine, a top U.N. official said Thursday.
Shaun Hughes, the World Food Program’s emergency coordinator for Sudan and the region, revealed that nearly 25 million people, half of Sudan’s population, are facing extreme hunger, with fatalities already occurring in famine-stricken areas of western Darfur.
Sudan spiraled into chaos on April 15, 2023, when long-standing tensions between the country’s military and powerful paramilitary forces erupted in the capital, Khartoum, quickly spreading to other parts of the country, including the vast and volatile Darfur region.
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Since the outbreak of violence, at least 20,000 deaths have been officially recorded, though the actual death toll is almost certainly far higher.
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“By any metric, this is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis,” Hughes told reporters at the United Nations, citing over 8 million internally displaced people and another 4 million who have fled across Sudan’s borders into seven neighboring countries that are themselves grappling with hunger and humanitarian need.
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Famine was first confirmed last August at Zamzam camp in North Darfur, where about half a million people have taken refuge. According to Hughes, the famine has since spread to 10 more areas across Darfur and Kordofan, with 17 other locations now at serious risk in the coming months.
“The scale of what is unfolding in Sudan threatens to dwarf anything we have seen in decades,” Hughes warned.
Speaking via video conference from Nairobi, he issued a stark caution: “Tens of thousands more people will die in Sudan during a third year of war unless WFP and other humanitarian agencies gain access and receive the resources needed to reach those in desperate need.”
Though the Sudanese military recaptured Khartoum in late March, a key symbolic gain, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) still hold most of Darfur and several other areas, prolonging the humanitarian emergency, AP reported.
Zamzam camp, which lies in a conflict zone, continues to endure catastrophic conditions. Hughes described the situation there as “horrific,” paralleling the ongoing siege of North Darfur’s capital, El Fasher, which has been under RSF pressure since May 2024. El Fasher remains the only regional capital in Darfur not under RSF control.
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WFP continues to receive daily distressing updates from humanitarian partners and contacts inside North Darfur, reporting “excess mortality” directly linked to famine.
Although no aid convoy has reached Zamzam since October, the agency has managed to assist around 400,000 people in El Fasher and surrounding camps by digitally transferring cash into local bank accounts, enabling recipients to purchase food and essentials — but only where markets are still functioning.
Hughes noted that WFP’s humanitarian outreach has tripled since mid-2024, with the organization now reaching more than 3 million people monthly, largely due to a rapid expansion of digital cash transfers.
Looking ahead, WFP aims to support 7 million people across Sudan over the next six months — but to do so, it urgently needs $650 million in funding.
Asked whether recent funding cuts by the Trump administration were linked to this financial gap, Hughes responded: “All allocations that the U.S. government has made to Sudan remain effective, for which we are grateful.”
An additional $150 million is also required to aid Sudanese refugees who have crossed into Chad, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and other neighboring states.
“Without sufficient funding, we face difficult choices,” Hughes said. “Either we reduce the number of people we help, or we decrease the amount of aid each person receives. Unfortunately, that’s already happening.”
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