It’s now official: People are starving to death in Africa.
A consortium of UN agencies, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), issued a declaration that famine is happening in the Darfur region of Sudan. Since April 2023, fighting between two factions of the military government has prevented farmers from sowing and harvesting and food aid from entering the country.
A declaration of famine is very rare. For famine to be declared, at least 20% of the population in an area must be suffering extreme food shortages, with 30% of children acutely malnourished and two people out of every 10,000 dying daily from starvation or malnutrition and disease, according to Reuters.
Humanitarian agencies have been warning for months that Sudan was at risk of seeing famine.
Two months ago, the IPC, an initiative of more than a dozen U.N. agencies, regional bodies, and aid groups concerned with food security and nutrition, warned that Sudan was facing “the worst levels of acute food insecurity ever recorded by the IPC in the country.”
The IPC said at the time that 25.6 million Sudanese – more than half the population – faced "Crisis" conditions or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above) from June to September, coinciding with the lean season, when food stocks are at their lowest ahead of the next harvest.
It added that 755,000 people faced "Catastrophe" (IPC Phase 5) in 10 states, including the five states of Greater Darfur as well as South and North Kordofan, Blue Nile, Al Jazirah, and Khartoum states. As well, eight and a half million people (18 percent of the population) face "Emergency" (IPC Phase 4).
The IPC said its findings marked a stark and rapid deterioration of the food security situation compared to the previous assessment, released in December 2023. In particular, there was a surge in the population in IPC Phase 5 (Catastrophe) from zero to 755,000.
Darfur and other regions
IPC’s August 1 famine declaration was specifically for the North Darfur Zamzam camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), where more than 500,000 people are currently living.
But the IPC said that similar conditions may exist elsewhere in Sudan. The civil war, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, has led to millions of people fleeing their homes – both as IDPs and refugees to neighboring countries.
Leni Kinzli, Head of Communications at the World Food Program in Sudan, said that as many as 13 other areas across the war-ravaged country are also at risk of famine, according to UN News.
The WFP spokeswoman said the regions include areas where there are active conflicts, such as in Darfur, Kordofan, and Khartoum. The conflicts make food assessments very difficult.
South Kordofan includes the Nuba Mountains, a region that has escaped most of the conflict, but has had a heavy influx of IDPs, with local residents have little food to share with newcomers. Dr. Tom Catena, an American who is medical director at Mother of Mercy Medical Center in Gidel, South Kordofan, said the area is “on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.”
“With over 3 million people at risk of dying from hunger and no access to basic necessities, the situation is the worst I have witnessed in fifteen years,” Catena announced on X.
In early June, Catena told Aleteia that he was treating five times as many children for malnutrition. Already, some were dying.
As an indication of how bad things have gotten in the Darfur camp, an IDP told The Wall Street Journal by phone Sunday: “We have been surviving on water and leaves.”
Catholic Relief Services
Since the start of the conflict, Catholic Relief Services, the overseas aid and development agency of the Church in the United States, has been able to support over 1 million people across Sudan. That support included providing agricultural supplies to more than 7,000 farmers in areas where farming is still possible during the agricultural season.
"Unfortunately, the conflict continues to expand to reach additional states and towns in Sudan, including Sinnar and West Kordofan, leading to a significant increase of internally displaced people with severely poor living conditions and inadequate access to the most basic services such as food, shelter, health services, and income," Omer Marouf, CRS's program manager in Sudan, told Aleteia. "In conflict-affected areas, most hospitals are not functioning and those that are face shortages of staff, supplies, water, and electricity. The humanitarian situation is only getting worse, with 25.6 million people facing severe food shortages. They need urgent action and assistance."
Marouf said that CRS continues its support to people in need. "We are ramping up. In the Darfur region, CRS in partnership with World Food Program, has been able to provide emergency food assistance to over 117,000 people," he said Thursday. "The assistance included the distribution of sorghum, rice, vegetable oil, and salt as well as nutrition supplements to pregnant and lactating women and children under five years of age and malnourished children."
