Daijiworld Media Network - Cairo
Cairo, Feb 6: Famine is threatening additional areas in war-ravaged Sudan’s western Darfur region, a global hunger monitoring body warned on Thursday, even as an attack by paramilitary forces on a military hospital in the country’s south killed at least 22 people, including the hospital’s director and three medical staff.
Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, following a power struggle between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war has triggered what the United Nations has described as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) said acute malnutrition has reached famine-level thresholds in two more towns in Darfur — Umm Baru and Kernoi in North Darfur province — though it stopped short of formally declaring famine due to lack of sufficient data on mortality and food access.
Last year, the IPC confirmed that people in Darfur’s key city of el-Fasher were enduring famine after the city fell to the RSF following an 18-month siege.
Meanwhile, an attack by the RSF on a military hospital in the town of Kouik in South Kordofan province on Thursday killed 22 people and wounded eight others, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Network. Among those killed were the hospital’s director and three members of the medical staff. It was not immediately clear how many of the victims were civilians.
“This was not an isolated incident but part of a series of attacks that have plagued South Kordofan,” the network said, adding that repeated assaults have rendered several hospitals inoperable.
The UN estimates that more than 40,000 people have been killed since the conflict began, though aid agencies believe the actual toll could be significantly higher. Over 14 million people have been displaced from their homes.
According to the IPC report, nearly 53 per cent of children aged between six months and five years in Umm Baru are suffering from acute malnutrition — almost double the famine threshold of 30 per cent. In Kernoi, 32 per cent of children are affected.
“These alarming rates suggest an increased risk of excess mortality and raise concern that nearby areas may be experiencing similar catastrophic conditions,” the report warned.
The IPC said it has confirmed famine in seven locations across Sudan since the war began. However, it noted that access constraints and limited data have prevented confirmation of famine in several areas at risk.
The fall of el-Fasher to the RSF in October 2025 triggered a mass exodus to neighbouring towns, placing severe strain on already scarce resources and worsening food insecurity, the report said.
Fighting has increasingly shifted to Kordofan in recent months. The Sudanese military recently reported gains in the region after breaking a siege in Kadugli and the nearby town of Dilling. On Tuesday, the army announced it had reopened a crucial road between the two towns, which had been under RSF siege since the war began.
However, the RSF launched a drone attack the same day on a medical centre in Kadugli, killing 15 people, including seven children, according to the Sudan Doctors’ Network.
Warning that extreme hunger could spread further in Kordofan due to disrupted food production and supply lines, the IPC urged an immediate ceasefire.
“An immediate and sustained ceasefire is critical to avert further destitution, starvation and death in the affected parts of Sudan,” the Rome-based group said.
Meanwhile, the United States and the United Nations announced efforts to mobilise international support for Sudan, launching a new Sudan Humanitarian Fund with initial pledges of $700 million from the United Arab Emirates and the US. Washington said it would contribute $200 million, while the UAE pledged $500 million. Saudi Arabia and other countries said they would also contribute, though specific amounts were not disclosed.