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"Hunger and starvation are spreading because of the decisions being made each day to continue to prosecute this war, irrespective of the civilian cost," said one U.N. expert.
Multiple U.N. leaders addressing the United Nations Security Council on Monday urged action to tackle the spiraling humanitarian crisis unfolding in war-torn Sudan, which has contributed to roughly half of the country facing acute food insecurity.
Sudan has been racked by violence since fighting erupted between the between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)—the nation's official military—and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023. The civil war has also led to widespread hunger in the country.
Edem Wosornu, director of operations and advocacy at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, toldthe Security Council that "Sudan remains in the grip of a humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions."
"More than 11.5 million people are now estimated to be internally displaced, of whom nearly 8.8 million people have been uprooted since April 2023," she said.
Wosornu spoke about the findings of the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report from late December, which stated that there was famine—or an IPC phase 5—in in Zamzam, Abu Shouk, and Al Salam camps, as well as in the Western Nuba Mountains, affecting both residents and internally displaced people between October and November 2024. The report noted that between December 2024 and May 2025, famine is projected to continue in the same areas and expand in the North Darfur localities of Um Kadadah, Melit, El Fasher, At Tawisha, and Al Lait.
"The main drivers of famine risk remain the armed conflict and forced displacement," according to the report.
The famine declaration for Zamzam camp, which houses hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons in North Darfur, came in August.
On the eve of the IPC's December report, the Sudanese government suspended cooperation with a global hunger monitor.
Wosornu in her remarks also lamented the death of three World Food Program staff members, who were killed when the agency's field office in Yabus was hit by an "aerial bombardment," according to the United Nations.
"Hunger and starvation are spreading because of the decisions being made each day to continue to prosecute this war, irrespective of the civilian cost," she added.
Beth Bechdol, deputy director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, also provided a Monday briefing to the Security Council, saying that "the latest reports on food security are the worst in the country's history."
"Let me remind council members that over the last 15 years, only four famines have been confirmed: Somalia in 2011; South Sudan in 2017 and 2020; and now Sudan in 2024," she said.
Bechdol highlighted a number of actions that the Security Council should aid, including using "political leverage to end hostilities and to bring relief to the people of the Sudan."
She also called on the body to support "immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access" and delivery of "multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance," saying that "while scaling up food, water, and cash assistance is vital, this alone cannot address the full scope of the hunger crisis."
More than 18 million kids were born into hunger this year, according to a new analysis, as the collective net worth of the world's richest grew to a record $14 trillion.
An analysis published Monday by the humanitarian group Save the Children estimates that roughly 35 kids across the globe were born into hunger every minute in 2024—a year in which the world's billionaires saw their combined wealth surge to a record high.
At least 18.2 million children were born into hunger this year, according to the new analysis, as war and climate-fueled extreme weather pushed around 800,000 more kids into hunger compared to 2023. Roughly half of all young child deaths worldwide are caused by malnutrition, experts say.
"Over 18 million newborns this year—35 children a minute—were born into a world where hunger is their reality from their first moments of life," Hannah Stephenson, global head of hunger and nutrition at Save the Children, said in a statement Monday. "Hunger knows no boundaries. It erodes childhoods, drains children's energy, and risks robbing them of their futures. Children should be free to play or expand their minds in class. No child should be worrying about when their next meal will be."
"We need immediate funding and safe access to humanitarian lifesaving services for children and families in desperate need of food, nutrition, healthcare, safe water, sanitation and hygiene, social protection, and livelihoods support," Stephenson added. "We have the tools to significantly reduce the number of malnourished children right now, like we have in the past."
Oxfam has estimated that eradicating world hunger entirely would require nations to contribute $31.7 billion more to global efforts to combat food insecurity—a fraction of the collective wealth of the planet's 2,682 billionaires.
According to a UBS study released earlier this month, billionaire wealth has increased by 121% over the past decade, reaching a record $14 trillion this year. Billionaires located in the U.S. saw the largest gains, UBS found, with their combined wealth growing by nearly 28% this year alone.
During that same 12 months, the number of children born into hunger rose by around 5% compared to the preceding year, Save the Children's analysis of United Nations data found.
"Children born into hunger this year include babies born in countries facing a risk of famine or catastrophic conditions of acute food insecurity including South Sudan, Haiti, Mali, and Sudan," Save the Children observed. "In addition, there was a warning in early November of a strong likelihood that famine was imminent or already underway in the northern Gaza Strip and 345,000 people across Gaza could face catastrophic hunger in the coming months."
The group noted that the intensifying climate crisis—which billionaires help fuel with their emission-heavy lifestyles—poses a dire threat to children's access to food worldwide.
"More than 1.4 million babies were born into hunger in Pakistan, one of the world's most climate-vulnerable countries," Save the Children noted. "Pakistan saw the second highest number of babies born into hunger among countries with over 20% undernourishment."
The government accused the monitor of "issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan's sovereignty and dignity" as aid and human rights experts called for global action to boost humanitarian assistance.
The Sudanese government suspended cooperation with a global hunger monitor on Monday, on the eve of the initiative announcing that the African country's civil war has driven the expansion of a famine first declared at a refugee camp earlier this year and expected to keep growing next year without a cease-fire.
Alarm over widespread
hunger in Sudan has mounted since fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)—the nation's official military—and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023. The famine declaration for Zamzam camp, which houses hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Darfur, came in August.
Reuters—which reported on Sudan's Monday letter to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and its Famine Review Committee (FRC)—noted that its "investigation found that the Sudanese government obstructed the IPC's work earlier this year, delaying by months a famine determination for the sprawling Zamzam camp."
The government's new letter accuses the monitor of "issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan's sovereignty and dignity," according to Reuters. "It says the forthcoming IPC report lacks updated malnutrition data and assessments of crop productivity during the recent summer rainy season. The growing season was successful, the letter says. It also notes 'serious concerns' about the IPC's ability to collect data from territories controlled by the RSF."
The IPC report, released Tuesday, states that "the FRC classifies famine (IPC phase 5) for the period of October to November 2024 in Zamzam, Abu Shouk, and Al Salam camps, as well as in the Western Nuba Mountains, affecting both residents and IDPs. Between December 2024 and May 2025, famine (IPC phase 5) is projected to continue in the same areas and expand in the North Darfur localities of Um Kadadah, Melit, El Fasher, At Tawisha, and Al Lait."
"There is a risk of famine in the Central Nuba Mountains and in areas likely to experience high influxes of IDPs in North and South Darfur," the report notes. It adds that "the population in areas of intense conflict in Khartoum (Mayo and Alingaz in Jebel Awlia) and Al Jazirah (Medani Al Kubra and Sharg Al Jazirah) might be experiencing the same conditions as that of the areas classified in famine," but "the lack of recent data prevents the FRC from confirming whether famine thresholds have been surpassed."
The document stresses that "the current analysis reflects the situation during the harvest period, a time when hunger and acute malnutrition are typically at their lowest. From December onwards, there will be few seasonal mitigating factors that could improve conditions on the ground. Only a halt to the conflict, and significant scale-up and scale-out of assistance can prevent an even greater catastrophe."
According to experts, 24.6 million people in Sudan—or half the nation's population—face "high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC phase 3 or above)" and more than 12 million have been displaced by the current conflict, including over 3.2 million who have fled to neighboring countries.
Leaders at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and World Food Program (WFP) expressed concern over the Tuesday report and renewed calls for action.
"We must stop famine in the Sudan—it can be done," said Rein Paulsen, FAO's director of emergencies and resilience. "We need immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to deliver food, water, health, and lifesaving emergency agricultural assistance to pull people from the brink. Above all, the immediate cessation of hostilities is an essential first step. We must act now, collectively, and at scale, for the sake of millions of people whose lives are at risk."
Jean-Martin Bauer, WFP's director of food security and nutrition analysis, emphasized that across Sudan, "people are getting weaker and weaker and are dying as they have had little to no access to food for months and months."
"WFP is doing everything we can to get a steady and constant flow of food assistance to the hungriest and hardest-to-reach places in Sudan," Bauer continued. "We are constantly adapting our operations as the conflict evolves, delivering assistance where and when we can. But recent operational progress is fragile as the situation on the ground is volatile and dangerous."
UNICEF's director of emergency operations, Lucia Elmi, pointed out that "the ongoing conflict, continuous displacements, and recurrent disease outbreaks have created a dangerous breeding ground for malnutrition in Sudan."
"Millions of young lives hang in the balance," Elmi warned. "The delivery of lifesaving therapeutic food, water, and medicine can help stop the deadly malnutrition crisis in its tracks, but we need safe, sustained, and unimpeded access to reach the most vulnerable children and save lives."
Human Rights Watch also took note of the new data and called out the warring parties for "willfully" obstructing aid. As Belkis Wille, an associate director in the crisis, conflict, and arms division of the U.S.-based group, wrote Tuesday:
In South Kordofan's Nuba Mountains, we witnessed famine for ourselves.
In October, we traveled to the Nuba Mountains to interview people displaced by attacks by the RSF and its allies. Witnesses described killings, rape, and destruction in the South Kordofan towns of Habila and Fayu, just 20 km away.
The impact of starvation was clear to see. Almost every person we spoke to bore the marks of hunger. One 8-year-old boy I met, died of starvation during our five-day visit. We saw no international organizations or U.N. agencies providing food assistance during our time there and kept wondering whether some of the people would survive more than a couple of months without aid.
"Before more civilians, including children, die of starvation in Sudan, governments should impose consequences on those responsible. The U.N. Security Council meeting on Sudan on December 19 again contained powerful speeches but little in the way of concrete action," Willie added. "The U.N. and donors should make a concerted push for immediate aid access throughout Sudan and massively increase support to local responders. The U.N. should also be much clearer and public about the scale of the challenges they face. Civilians in the Nuba Mountains and North Darfur cannot wait till the new year."