Facing the world's largest hunger crisis, nearly half of Sudan's population, around 24.6 million people now battle acute food insecurity, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. With markets crippled by war and aid blocked, families resort to boiling weeds like "Khadija Koro" for survival. A retired teacher, A.H., penned a poem calling the plant "a balm for us that spread through the spaces of fear," symbolizing the desperation gripping a nation once known as Africa's breadbasket.
Since April 2023, fighting between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed over 20,000 people and displaced 13 million. Agricultural lands lie abandoned, prices have skyrocketed, and critical regions like Darfur, Kordofan, and the Nuba Mountains face near-famine conditions. In Zamzam camp, a pound of sugar costs $33, which is unaffordable for families surviving on one daily meal of millet porridge. Some even suck coal to numb hunger pains. The World Food Programme warns 17 areas now risk famine.
Despite UN Secretary-General Guterres securing a tentative week-long ceasefire agreement from army leader Gen. Burhan for El Fasher, aid groups doubt the RSF will comply. Roads remain blocked by militias, trapping civilians without food, water, or medicine. "The food that reaches camps makes up only 5% of the need," says Abdalrahman Idris of El Serif camp, sheltering 49,000 displaced. Norwegian Refugee Council reports confirm essential items like wheat flour are monopolized by authorities, requiring security approvals to sell.
A.H., like many Sudanese, sees his pension stalled and survives on temporary work, sending just $35 weekly to his family. In South Darfur, farmer Hawaa Hussein lacks seeds and tractors to plant crops: "Aid isn’t enough... you can’t eat while your neighbor is hungry." Displaced since 2004, her family of eight shares lentils and oil from bi-monthly parcels. Meanwhile, anonymous aid workers describe elderly and children starving to death in Zamzam camp amid recent RSF attacks, with medical care nonexistent.
While Sudan’s agricultural minister denies famine, evidence mounts of systemic collapse. The Rapid Support Forces’ control over key areas prevents food distribution, and dual conflicts; army vs. RSF, and army vs. RSF-aligned rebels paralyze relief efforts. With 4 million relying on WFP aid monthly and no end to the war in sight, Sudan’s descent into mass starvation continues unabated.