Experts backed by the United Nations warned on Thursday that famine is spreading in western Darfur, Sudan.
This situation has been exacerbated by the massive displacement of El-Fasher residents after the paramilitaries took control of the city.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a devastating war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced nearly 11 million, and plunged several regions into famine and starvation.
In an alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), global food security experts declared that "famine thresholds for acute malnutrition have now been exceeded" in the disputed areas of Um Baru and Kernoi, in northern Darfur, near the border with Chad .
They added that the spread of famine occurred when the fall of El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, led to "a massive displacement of residents and displaced persons to surrounding areas of North Darfur." El-Fasher, long the last stronghold of the Sudanese army in western Darfur, fell to the RSF last October after 18 months of bombing and famine.
The alert issued Thursday, based on data available up to February, comes nearly three months after the IPC confirmed famine conditions in El-Fasher and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, about 800 kilometers (500 miles) to the east. Kadugli endured a punitive siege by the RSF for much of the nearly three-year-long conflict in the country, before the army lifted the blockade this week.
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