Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleDisplaced people in Sudan say aid is shrinking just as warnings of famine grow louder, according to a report by Al Jazeera. The World Food Programme (WFP) says funding shortages have forced it to cut monthly food assistance for about 900,000 displaced people.
The WFP announced the cuts on October 22, 2026. It says about 19.5 million people across Sudan face acute hunger, including five million at emergency levels of food shortage. The agency says the risk of famine persists in several hotspots, particularly Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan.
A war with a vast human toll
The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began on April 15, 2023. Aid workers say it has killed as many as 200,000 people. It has displaced 13 million and led to famine in parts of the country.
On October 27, the United States Department of State warned in a joint statement of an alarming deterioration in Sudan’s food security. It said the risk of famine in the coming months, flagged by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, requires urgent action.
Selling pastries to feed two children
Al Jazeera spoke with Aisha Adam, 50, who fled her home in Khartoum’s al-Kalakla neighbourhood days after the war began. She moved to Omdurman, then in May 2023 to a camp for displaced people in Port Sudan. She lives there with her orphaned grandson and her nephew.
Adam says aid was more available at her first shelter, in the city centre. After she and others were moved to a displacement centre on the city’s outskirts in June, assistance fell sharply. She now makes and sells zalabia, a fried pastry, along with tea and coffee at a nearby market. Some days she turns a profit and some days she loses money.
Her daily costs include 3 kg of flour for 21,000 Sudanese pounds ($2.25), two litres of oil for 22,000 pounds ($2.36) and three bags of charcoal for 9,000 pounds ($0.97). A kilogram of lentils, one of the cheapest foods available to her, costs 16,000 pounds ($1.72). Meat is no longer affordable, and the family eats mainly lentils and rice.
Aid groups have supplied water for the past five days. Before that, she paid 1,500 pounds ($0.16) for 18 litres, and sometimes had to borrow the money. Her two sons are missing. Her greatest fear, she said, is that someone will fall ill because the family cannot pay for treatment.
Shortages in al-Obeid camp
Esraa Mohammed, supervisor of the al-Suraiha 8 camp for displaced people in al-Obeid, says families lack even basic necessities. The camp has 450 registered residents, plus 40 recent arrivals not yet on official records. Many arrive in torn clothes, without protection from sun or rain and without a meal, she said.
Some organisations provide about 400 ml of cooking oil and 250 g of peas per person. Another distributes lentils, flour, oil and salt. Mohammed says this is not enough to last a month, so residents look for casual work and sometimes go to bed hungry.
The camp is home to 100 children, 30 of whom have severe acute malnutrition, she said. Some people who arrived from South Kordofan told her they ate tree leaves while fleeing because they feared being killed by the RSF. They cited reports of civilians being murdered, detained or raped by its fighters.
Expert warns of wider catastrophe
Ahmed Ismail, an expert on the United Nations and NGOs, described the humanitarian situation as extremely serious, with needs far exceeding support. He cited famine, displacement, collapsing health services, destroyed livelihoods and serious violations against civilians.
He said monitoring points to rising civilian deaths, including from difficulty accessing food, healthcare and shelter, as well as from attacks such as drone strikes. When aid declines, he said, the most vulnerable families lose food and medicine, raising the risk of death among children, women and older people. He warned that further cuts, combined with violations and restrictions on humanitarian access, could widen the catastrophe.
Source: Al Jazeera
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