Sudan rebel group declares famine in territory under its control

A rebel group controlling Sudan’s Nuba Mountains and parts of Blue Nile State said on Wednesday that the local population is experiencing a hunger catastrophe, Reuters has reported.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said that 20 per cent of families are suffering severe food shortages, while 30 per cent of children suffer from malnutrition. An Arabic version of the statement described the situation as a famine. It blamed the parties involved in Sudan’s civil war and a poor harvest for the crisis.

The situation in the two regions is “the most severe compared with other states,” said the SPLM-N. “The little food stock that the host community has been able to produce is being shared and depleted rapidly.”

Some 3.9 million people live in the two territories under SPLM-N control, a number that has swelled by people from other parts of the country displaced by the fighting in the ongoing war between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war has plunged half the population of about 50 million into food insecurity and created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Across the country, some 756,000 people face catastrophic hunger, said global hunger monitor the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification in June.

Both the army and the RSF are accused of blocking aid from reaching targeted areas, and of damaging the infrastructure and markets needed for food production and delivery. The SPLM-N accused the army-aligned government in Port Sudan of selling aid allocated for the area, while it said the RSF was closing markets.

“Civilian villages in both regions were also targeted through a scorched earth policy, burning crops and homes, displacing residents to camps, and blocking roads,” added the rebel movement.

The army and RSF did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

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