Famine risk surges across Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan regions, alert warns
October 13, 2026 (KHARTOUM) – An alarming combination of conflict, displacement, and severe El Niño-induced drought is accelerating famine risk across Sudan’s Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan regions, according to an emergency alert from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).
The IPC is a United Nations-backed multi-partner initiative that brings together governments, UN agencies, non-governmental organisations, and civil society groups to assess food insecurity and malnutrition.
The alert warned that vital food reserves are rapidly depleting as an agricultural failure spreads across more than half the country, leaving communities on the brink of starvation.
Nationwide displacement has climbed to 8.58 million people, while severe water deficits and failed rainfall have left approximately 50 per cent of Sudan’s croplands showing poor vegetation growth. In North Darfur, 64 per cent of cultivated areas have poor biomass.
Surveys conducted between August and September in Eastern Jebel Marra, South Darfur, revealed global acute malnutrition rates reaching 38 per cent and 30.8 per cent in two displacement camps, breaching the 30 per cent threshold required for a formal famine classification.
Child malnutrition admissions have surged sharply across Darfur. In Nyala, the proportion of children admitted for severe acute malnutrition doubled between January and August, while in Kas locality admissions quadrupled between January and June.
Greater Kordofan has increasingly become an epicentre of active hostilities, displacing more than 300,000 people since late 2025. Intense fighting in North Kordofan has driven farming communities off their land and into the regional hub of El Obeid.
In South Kordofan, clashes in Heiban locality and Kauda have forced thousands into isolated mountain regions during the planting season. West Kordofan is currently enduring one of its worst droughts since 2004 alongside a worsening cholera outbreak.
Access blockages, insecurity, and deep funding shortfalls continue to severely constrain relief operations. In early October, two World Food Programme-contracted aid convoys came under fire, resulting in the death of a driver.
As of October 8, the 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Sudan faces a 57 per cent funding gap, with the nutrition and water and sanitation sectors receiving just 30 per cent and 23 per cent of required resources, respectively.
The IPC’s Famine Review Committee cautioned that repeated conflict impacts and dry-season pressures are collapsing essential systems supporting civilian life.
The body called for urgent, unhindered humanitarian access, full funding of the response plan, and international diplomatic pressure to halt attacks on civilians and vital infrastructure before catastrophe widens further.