\n<\/p>\n
War-hit Sudan is sliding into a “widening famine crisis” that has been marked by worsening starvation and a surge in acute malnutrition, an independent group of food security experts says. <\/p>\n
Famine has spread to five areas, with 24.6 million people – about half the population – in urgent need of food aid, the experts said.<\/p>\n
The hunger crisis has been caused by the 20-month civil war that has devastated Sudan. <\/p>\n
Various mediation efforts aimed at ending the conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have so far failed. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The army and RSF had jointly staged a coup in 2021, but a power struggle between their commanders plunged the country into a civil war in 2023. <\/p>\n
It has led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with the UN-backed Famine Review Committee (FRC) warning that a “greater catastrophe” could unfold if the conflict did not end.<\/p>\n
The committee is linked to the Integrated Food Phase Classification (IPC) – a global initiative by UN agencies, aid groups and governments to identify famine conditions.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Sudan’s military-backed government announced it was suspending its cooperation with the group, accusing it of issuing “unreliable reports that undermine Sudan’s sovereignty and dignity”, Reuters news agency reports. <\/p>\n
The IPC had first identified a famine in August at the Zamzam camp in Sudan’s Darfur region, where about half a million people were taking refuge. <\/p>\n