Doctors warn of ‘significant’ malnutrition in South Kordofan’s besieged towns

August 13, 2025 (KADUGLI) – Doctors warned on Wednesday that a prolonged siege on parts of Sudan’s South Kordofan state has led to a severe hunger crisis, with malnutrition spreading significantly among children and women.

The cities of Kadugli and Delling are facing an acute shortage of food, medicine, and other vital supplies, with multiple armed groups blocking key access routes.

“The network is sounding the alarm about the continued siege and lack of food and treatment, which has caused malnutrition to spread significantly among children, women, and the elderly,” Razan al-Mahdi, a spokeswoman for the Sudan Doctors Network, told Sudan Tribune.

Doctors and activists have already documented deaths from starvation and lack of medicine in Delling and Kadugli. The Doctors Network also warned authorities of spreading diseases like malaria, cholera, and dysentery, with the situation expected to worsen during the current rainy season, which makes travel from remote villages even more difficult.

Al-Mahdi called on authorities to open a humanitarian corridor to end the suffering of thousands of civilians.

A multi-sided blockade has exacerbated the crisis. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) has cut off main supply routes into Kadugli, which it has also repeatedly shelled. The group’s recent capture of the town of Umm Adara severed a critical trade route from a market on the South Sudan border that many locals rely on.

Simultaneously, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), from their positions in al-Dubaibat, are preventing goods and aid from reaching the region from El Obeid, a major city with connections to central Sudan, according to the report.