World Food Programme Warns of Severe Food Crisis, Possibly Largest in History, in Sudan
Urgent Appeal for Humanitarian Access in Darfur, Sudan
The World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently calling for sustained humanitarian access to Sudan’s Darfur region, particularly the besieged North Darfur capital El Fasher, where people are facing starvation amid blocked supply routes and escalating conflict.
El Fasher, once a relative safe haven, has been cut off from direct food deliveries for over a year, forcing residents to rely on scarce and extremely expensive market food. Many are surviving on animal fodder and food waste, with community support systems largely collapsed.
The current situation in El Fasher is dire, with all road access blocked and violence intensifying, including attacks, looting, and sexual assault. WFP continues digital cash transfers to about 250,000 residents, but this support is insufficient given soaring food prices and the collapse of local markets and clinics. The onset of the rainy season threatens to cut off road access completely, further imperiling survival and reversing previous fragile gains in hunger reduction.
Michael Dunford, WFP’s Regional Director for Eastern Africa, stated that the WFP’s work has never been more critical due to the deteriorating humanitarian situation. He urgently requires unrestricted access and security guarantees to deliver assistance to families in Darfur.
The potential impacts of continued blocked access and conflict include escalating starvation and malnutrition, increased mortality as people resort to desperate survival measures, displacement pressures, broader regional destabilization, and disproportionate effects on women and children.
At least 1.7 million people in Darfur are already facing emergency levels of famine, and these access limits jeopardize WFP's efforts to offer critical assistance to nearly 700,000 more people before the rainy season. The UN's World Food Programme issued a warning about the imminent famine in Darfur, Sudan, due to ongoing fighting.
WFP needs to move assistance across frontlines from Port Sudan to reach people throughout the Darfur region. However, the government in Port Sudan is imposing obstacles that prevent WFP from sending assistance via Adre, Chad's only other viable cross-border conduit.
Recent escalations of violence near El Fasher have delayed relief convoys from Chad's Tine border crossing. The recent increase in violence in El Fasher is causing serious humanitarian needs in Darfur, with civilians experiencing severe hunger and resorting to consuming grass and peanut shells due to the lack of food.
Without immediate, sustained humanitarian access and a ceasefire or humanitarian pause by warring parties, lives will be lost, and the humanitarian crisis will deepen dramatically. WFP and UN officials emphasize that these actions are critical to avert mass starvation and deaths in Darfur’s hunger hotspots like El Fasher.
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