US and 30 Western states warn Sudan faces famine risk

The US and 30 other Western states warned on Oct. 27 that Sudan faces worsening famine risk, according to a BBC News report citing a joint statement published by the US State Department.

The warning matters because the statement estimates 19.5 million people, or 41% of Sudan’s population, face acute food shortages, while the WHO says more than 33 million need assistance.

The statement, signed by EU states, the UK, Canada, Switzerland, Norway and the US, said Sudan’s conflict is the main force behind the hunger crisis, damaging essential infrastructure and interrupting food production.

“There is very little to survive on,” Yusuf Roble, regional director for Islamic Relief East Africa, told BBC Newsday, describing people returning to Omdurman to find homes destroyed or looted.

Roble said only 40% of Sudan’s 2026 humanitarian needs plan had been funded as of September. He said community kitchens feeding displaced or returning families lacked reliable backing because of funding cuts.

Sudan’s war began in April 2023 after a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The conflict has displaced 14 million people, according to the BBC report.

The joint statement said five million people are facing emergency levels of hunger. It warned that, without immediate action, “the number of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition could exceed the projected 825,000.”

The signatories also cited obstruction of aid and El Niño-linked weather effects, saying reduced rainfall and drought have affected more than half of Sudan. Those conditions have compounded the impact of fighting on farms, markets and transport links.

“The parties to the conflict bear primary responsibility for alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people,” the statement said, calling for full, safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access.

In June, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a system for measuring the severity and scale of food crises, estimated that 5.1 million people in Sudan faced severe hunger.

Source: BBC News – Africa report, Oct. 27, 2026