Sudan hunger rises amid war, aid cuts and Hormuz disruption

Sudan faces renewed risks of deeper hunger after gains from an intensive aid effort began to erode, a senior World Food Programme official said on July 14. Carl Skau, the WFP's acting executive director, told Reuters that conflict, cuts in donor funding and rising diesel and fertilizer prices tied to Gulf disruptions and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz threaten to push more people into severe food insecurity during the current planting season.

The war between Sudan's army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, now in its fourth year, has displaced millions and left the country as the world's largest humanitarian crisis.

Around 5 million people face emergency or catastrophic hunger levels, with more than 100,000 still in IPC Phase 5 famine-like conditions despite the earlier reduction in that category, Skau said. Nearly 19.5 million people across Sudan face high levels of acute food insecurity, according to the IPC.

Recent fighting around al-Obeid in North Kordofan raised fears the city could face conditions similar to those in al-Fashir in Darfur.

Violence there has eased in recent days, which could allow aid deliveries to expand from 100,000 to 250,000 people if the lull holds. Renewed clashes in Darfur over the past week forced the closure of the Tine border crossing from Chad. The WFP has cut the number of people it assists from 5 million a year ago to about 3.5 million and reduced rations in areas including Tawila in Darfur.

It faces a $646 million funding gap after reductions from major donors including the United States, European countries and Britain. Skau said the agency is not heading in the right direction and is falling backwards. Sudan relies on fertilizer imports from Gulf countries and irrigation pumps for much of its agriculture, making current cost increases a direct threat to the planting season, Skau added.