World

El Niño Drought and Ongoing Conflict Heighten Famine Risk in Sudan’s Darfur and Kordofan

By Al Jazeera Staff

An El Niño‑induced drought is affecting roughly half of Sudan while a three‑year war continues, raising the risk of famine in the Darfur and Kordofan regions, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said on Monday. The IPC, an initiative that includes UNICEF, the World Bank, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization, warned that the drought is compounding the impacts of conflict and displacement, reducing food availability, driving up prices and hurting livelihoods. It added that healthcare is extremely limited and clean water is becoming scarce, leaving a poorly nourished population highly vulnerable to disease and death.

The IPC noted that farmers’ livelihoods have deteriorated and dependence on food assistance is rising. Food insecurity, acute malnutrition and excess mortality are likely to intensify. Poor vegetation growth affects nearly two‑thirds of cropland in North Darfur and about half in South Darfur, West Kordofan and South Kordofan, where severe water shortages and limited opportunity for agricultural recovery threaten livelihoods.

The IPC reported worsening acute malnutrition in additional areas, including Nyala, where the proportion of children accessing nutrition services who were admitted for severe acute malnutrition doubled from about 5 % to 11 % between January and August. Two displacement camps in South Darfur also recorded global acute malnutrition above famine thresholds. In North Darfur, delayed rains that impacted crop cultivation and “critically low” food stocks have worsened food insecurity. Western Kordofan is suffering one of its worst droughts since 2004 amid poor rainfall.

In May, nearly 19.5 million people—over 40 % of the population—were facing high levels of acute food insecurity, according to an IPC assessment. Of those, 135,000 were in Phase 5, the most severe classification, characterised by extreme food shortages, starvation, very high levels of malnutrition and deaths from disease or acute malnutrition.

Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 when tensions between the military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) escalated into open fighting in Khartoum before spreading across the country. The conflict has killed at least 150,000 people, according to conflict monitor ACLED, though aid groups say the actual toll is likely higher. About 13 million people have been displaced. The army controls Sudan’s central and eastern regions, while the RSF controls the Darfur region in the west and parts of the south. The arid Darfur region, roughly the size of Spain, has experienced some of the worst violence, with displacement camps invaded and ethnic cleansing killing thousands at a time.