Aid agencies warn escalating Yemen conflict is cutting off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people by UN News, World Food Programme, agencies   21 Oct. 2026   The humanitarian crisis in the besieged Yemeni city of Taiz is becoming unmanageable as the city runs out of water, fuel and fresh food, aid workers in the country have warned.   Houthi forces have largely encircled the city of more than 800,000 people, cutting it off from most supply routes. This week, heavy fighting has raged around the city.   Aid agencies warned of the fast-developing humanitarian emergency inside Taiz City in Yemen, which has been encircled by de facto Houthi forces fighting government troops along the country’s west coast.   “It’s 20 days and counting since Taiz has been cut off…we are seeing increasingly that the fighting makes it impossible for us to get in and impossible for people to get out,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN aid coordination office, OCHA. “Access roads have been cut off and that means that very little fuel, food or other supplies have reached the city since.”   The escalation between Houthi separatists and the Aden-based Government began in early September, ending the relative calm brought about by a 2022 truce.   Among the agencies responding to chronic and acute needs across Yemen, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported that more than 800,000 people in Taiz have been cut off from assistance. This includes 600,000 people who depend on humanitarian assistance and 200,000 women and children. “We’re desperately trying to regain access to Taiz and we continue to support the broader operations across Yemen,” said Azfar Deen, WFP Regional Communications Officer for Eastern and Southern Africa.   The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, highlighted deepening concerns about widespread hunger in Yemen. In Taiz alone, the agency has screened more than 168,000 children this year, with more than 52,000 found to be acutely malnourished.   Fatma Jaffar, a Yemen-based advocacy manager for Oxfam, said local staff described an almost total siege of Taiz.   “All the main entrances to the city have been blocked. The clashes are continuing and the casualties are very high,” she said. “Even people that have money are not able to buy food. Supplies are becoming very limited in the markets. No fuel has entered Taiz for two or three weeks. Drinking water is a massive issue. Even our staff are struggling to buy water.   “Hospitals are struggling without medicines and a lot of people as a result are dying. Those that have been wounded by missiles – there have been attempts to get them out of the city, but because of the blockade they are not able to transfer anyone. Prices have rocketed.   “Our staff told me that people cannot find any fresh fruit, and basic commodities are not found inside the city. Garbage is piling up since they are not able to transfer the waste outside the city. They are trying to burn it, but we can only anticipate there will be diseases such as cholera in the near future. If this goes on much longer and access remains blocked, there will be casualties from missiles, hunger and disease from lack of water right across the city.   The situation was bad before the escalation – Yemen is one of the poorest countries on Earth – and now it is becoming unmanageable.”   The World Health Organization reports hospitals in Yemen’s Taiz governorate are struggling to maintain lifesaving services amid critical shortages of fuel, oxygen, medicines and medical supplies. With hospital services severely disrupted and stocks running dangerously low, urgent action is needed to sustain lifesaving care for thousands of patients. In Taiz city alone, 42 health facilities are reporting acute shortages.   WHO calls for the immediate facilitation of safe, sustained and unhindered humanitarian access to Taiz, through all available routes, and urgent funding to replenish critical supplies and sustain essential health services. Without urgent action, critical shortages risk further disruption to essential health services, including emergency surgery, intensive care, maternal and neonatal care.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/10/1168654 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/10/yemen-turk-alarmed-over-taiz-encirclement-calls-allowing-humanitarian-relief http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/10/yemen-huthis-must-open-taiz-roads-immediately-as-thousands-of-civilians-lives-are-at-risk http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/fuel-and-medical-supply-shortages-threaten-lifesaving-health-services-yemens-taiz-access-remains-severely-restricted-enar http://reliefweb.int/country/yem   14 Oct. 2026   World Food Programme (WFP) warns escalating Yemen conflict is cutting off life-saving assistance to city of Taiz.   The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that escalating conflict in Yemen has cut off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people. Shifting frontlines, blocked roads and growing insecurity are severely restricting humanitarian access in the city of Taiz and other areas affected by the conflict.   Districts in Taiz, Yemen’s third largest city, have hosted the largest numbers of internally displaced people since the beginning of the crisis and many are now inaccessible due to ongoing fighting and imminent road closures around Yemen’s most populous governorate.   The loss of access is especially alarming given that Taiz has some of the country’s highest levels of food insecurity with ten out of 16 districts previously classified at Emergency levels (IPC 4). WFP’s latest monitoring indicates that wheat flour stocks are nearly exhausted and that remaining food supplies in local markets may last only a short time if access constraints continue.   “We are critically concerned about the escalating conflict, but even more so about the growing number of people we can no longer reach because of it,” said El-Khidir Daloum, WFP Representative and Country Director in Yemen.   “Many of the families affected have been displaced multiple times and were already struggling to afford even basic food items. This is the kind of situation that can rapidly spiral into a humanitarian catastrophe if assistance cannot move safely and reach those who need it most.”   WFP and its partners cannot access more than 600,000 people in Taiz who depend on humanitarian assistance, including more than 200,000 women and children. Combined with communities affected by access losses on the West Coast of Yemen in early September, a total of 800,000 people are now beyond WFP’s reach.   Across Yemen, more than 18 million people face acute food insecurity. Some 2.2 million children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, including 500,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.   Recent WFP monitoring in accessible areas of Yemen found that 74 percent of households were unable to meet their basic food needs. This is a record number for this year and indicates food security is significantly deteriorating.   Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations told reporters in Geneva recently that, “Hunger in Yemen today is accelerating before our eyes. And the effect of this latest flare up on the food security situation in Yemen threatens to be absolutely devastating.”   The escalation has also severely disrupted WFP operations. Offices have been breached, assets and food stocks lost, and critical supply chain routes cut off, undermining humanitarian efforts at a time of growing need.   At the same time, seventy-two UN personnel remain detained by Houthi de facto authorities, including 37 WFP colleagues. WFP joins the UN Secretary General in calling for their immediate and unconditional release.   While access to some of the worst-affected areas remain cut off, WFP has provided emergency assistance to more than 115,000 people newly displaced by the fighting in locations it can still reach. As displacement spreads and humanitarian needs increase, WFP stands ready to scale up assistance to up to 1.5 million people as access allows.   Safe and sustained humanitarian access, together with immediate funding, are critical to ensure assistance can be rapidly delivered wherever and whenever conditions permit. Without new funding, WFP will be forced to significantly reduce assistance from November, just as more families are being forced from their homes and relying on humanitarian support to survive.   WFP needs USD 268 million to sustain emergency food assistance, nutrition programmes, school meals, resilience activities and critical humanitarian logistics services in Yemen through 2027.   http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-warns-escalating-yemen-conflict-cutting-life-saving-assistance-city-taiz http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/taiz-fighting-intensifies-civilian-lifelines-are-risk-yemen-enar http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/yemen-as-fighting-intensifies-civilian-lifelines-are-at-risk http://www.icrc.org/en/article/yemen-health-system-faces-mounting-pressure-fighting-intensifies http://www.msf.org/five-things-know-about-situation-south-yemen-today http://www.care.org/media-and-press/care-joins-international-ngos-calling-for-urgent-action-as-escalating-fighting-threatens-yemen-civilians/   11 Oct. 2026   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned a Houthi missile attack on Riyadh’s main airport that Saudi authorities say killed 12 people and wounded more than 300.   In a statement he said attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure violate international law. “These attacks must cease immediately,” Mr. Guterres said.   Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said on Sunday that 309 people were wounded in the strike on King Khalid International Airport, some of them critically.   Late on Sunday, Saudi authorities reported that another projectile had hit a passenger terminal at the airport in Riyadh, causing further injuries and a fire. It was the third Houthi attack on the airport this week.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/10/saudi-arabia-yemen-civilians-must-not-pay-the-price-of-escalation-in-hostilities/ http://www.icrc.org/en/statement/middle-east-icrc-president-calls-de-escalation-and-protection-civilians http://osesgy.unmissions.org/en/news/briefing-by-the-un-special-envoy-for-yemen-hans-grundberg-to-the-security-council-3 http://theglobalobservatory.org/2026/10/yemen-conflict-political-solution/   2 Oct. 2026   Yemen’s hunger crisis deepens quickly as conflict escalates. (WFP)   Hunger is accelerating rapidly across Yemen as conflict intensifies, pushing more people deeper into crisis and threatening consequences far beyond the country’s borders, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned.   For families across Yemen, the deterioration is immediate, as conflict forces people from their homes, disrupts livelihoods and makes it harder to reach communities with assistance.   The sobering context was outlined by Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations, at a United Nations briefing in Geneva.   “The impact of the escalation of the conflict over the last few weeks on the ability of Yemeni people to put food on the table has been immediate,” said Hollingworth.   “Our own monitoring in areas of Yemen where we can operate already shows that almost three out of four households are unable to meet their basic food needs today. That’s a record number for this year in just a few weeks.”   Across Yemen, 18.3 million people face acute food insecurity. Some 2.2 million children aged under 5 are acutely malnourished, including 500,000 suffering from severe acute malnutrition – the most life-threatening form of malnutrition.   Higher prices are eroding families’ ability to buy the food they need, with Yemen’s heavy reliance on imported food leaving households highly exposed when insecurity disrupts markets, transport and commercial supply. Families with little or no financial cushion are forced to eat less, buy cheaper and less nutritious food, or go without. Food is consistently among the most urgent need of the more than 150,000 people displaced in recent weeks.   “Our colleagues on the ground are seeing families arriving, especially in Lahj, outside Aden, and around Taiz city [further north], many after walking days without any water or food,” explained Hollingworth.   “Many of these families have had to flee the fighting for the second, third or even fourth time. And some are surviving largely on bread that they brought with them and a simple soup made from anything they can find, leaves, grass.”   “The conflict has already, for example, cut off access to parts of Thais and Hodeidah, which means that WFP and our partners are today prevented from reaching 350,000 people in need who we used to serve.”   “This is happening in a country that was already facing one the world’s largest humanitarian crises and one of the world’s top four more severe hunger hotspots. If the world doesn’t step up to help Yemen, the outlook is bleak,” added Hollingworth.   What begins as a hunger crisis in Yemen could compound a food security crisis far beyond its borders, Hollingworth warned.   The crisis is unfolding beside the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a major maritime corridor at the southern exit of the Red Sea, connecting trade between Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.   To compound the challenges, the Red Sea forms part of a current triple chokepoint caused by conflicts – with severe disruption to the movement of food, fuel and fertilizer across the Strait of Hormuz and the Black Sea too.   “For some people, certainly in the developed world, this will mean that prices at your supermarkets or at the gas or the petrol pumps are going to be quite a lot more expensive than before,” added Hollingworth.   “But in the world's most vulnerable countries, these price increases or the lack of availability of goods have a devastating effect. It may indeed push millions of people into acute food insecurity. And we've said this before, but let me be clear once again: today's humanitarian shock and supply chain disruptions can become tomorrow's global food crisis.”   http://www.wfp.org/stories/yemens-hunger-crisis-deepens-quickly-conflict-escalates   16 Sep. 2026   Renewed hostilities in Yemen push over 12 million children deeper into crisis. (UNICEF)   Renewed hostilities across Yemen are forcing families from their homes, killing and injuring children and disrupting access to health care and education, deepening an already severe humanitarian crisis, UNICEF warned today.   More than 104,000 people, including over 57,000 children, have been displaced in just two weeks. The fighting across western Taiz, southern Hudaydah, Marib and other affected areas is cutting children off from essential services. Twenty-six UNICEF-supported health facilities have had services disrupted, while 243 schools have closed.   “Children in Yemen were already living through one of the world’s most grave humanitarian crises, and many have known little but conflict and displacement,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Now, tens of thousands of families have been forced from their homes in just two weeks, many fleeing only with what they can carry. For children who have already endured years of hunger, displacement and disrupted schooling, this latest violence is eroding what little stability they had left.”   Even before the latest escalation, an estimated 12.2 million children in Yemen needed humanitarian assistance. More than 2.2 million children under five are acutely malnourished, including over 515,000 children with severe acute malnutrition, while 3.2 million school-aged children are out of school. Around 17.8 million people lack adequate access to healthcare, water and sanitation services, with only 60 per cent of health facilities fully functional.   UNICEF reiterates the call of the Secretary-General for all parties to the conflict to protect civilians, including children, comply with international humanitarian law, and facilitate safe and unimpeded humanitarian access so that urgently needed assistance can reach communities in need.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/renewed-hostilities-yemen-push-over-12-million-children-deeper-crisis http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/escalating-conflict-yemen-could-fuel-more-displacement-refugee-movement http://www.unfpa.org/news/women-give-birth-roadside-hostilities-escalate-yemen http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/yemen-tens-of-thousands-homeless-as-entire-communities-are-forced-to-flee http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/09/yemen-turk-decries-deepening-conflict-and-appalling-impact-civilians http://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/joint-statement-running-out-options-yemens-families-face-dangerous-tipping-point-hunger-deepens-and-resilience-erodes-enar http://www.concern.net/press-releases/funding-cuts-putting-millions-lives-risk-yemen http://www.unocha.org/news/acting-un-deputy-relief-chief-tells-security-council-regional-tensions-could-deepen-yemens Visit the related web page
	Sudan’s conflict worsening by UN News, OHCHR, WFP, UNICEF, agencies   23 Oct. 2026   Sudan: Alarming surge in drone attacks killing hundreds in October. (OHCHR, UN News)   UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk has strongly condemned the escalation in drone strikes across Sudan this month, and their devastating consequences for civilians in Kordofan, Darfur, Blue Nile, Khartoum, and other states.   In the first three weeks of October, the UN Human Rights Office documented at least 306 deaths and hundreds of injuries resulting from strikes by drones. The strikes, attributed to both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), hit civilian objects and infrastructure, including homes, markets, hospitals, displacement sites, as well as power stations and water sources.   “The increasing use of drones, already accounting for the majority of conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan this year, is deeply disturbing and is exacting a horrifying toll,” said Turk.   “Scores of civilians have been killed and vital infrastructure and services on which they depend eviscerated, driving further displacement and deepening the already severe humanitarian crisis,” he said, renewing his call on the parties to the conflict to respect their clear and binding obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL), including by not directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects.   In a particularly disturbing trend, the UN Human Rights Office has documented numerous drone strikes on displacement sites, where those already forced to flee the fighting have found shelter. These attacks have resulted in a surge in casualties among internally displaced persons (IDPs)..   Vehicles and gatherings of civilians also continue to come under attack. On 18 October, at least 139 people were killed and dozens more injured when a transportation truck was hit in a “double tap” repeat strike in Dibab West Kordofan, an area controlled by the RSF.   Markets continue to be subjected to drone strikes with alarming regularity, with deadly attacks in Al Dabba in North Darfur, Nyala in South Darfur, and Al-Idea in West Kordofan, reportedly killing 23 civilians.   Healthcare facilities have also continued to come under attack. An RSF-attributed strike on Um Darfa hospital in Blue Nile, on 11 October, seriously injured health workers and rendered the facility non-operational.   Retaliatory strikes are an emerging trend of concern, with RSF-attributed drone strikes on Khartoum, including the airport area, reportedly being carried out in response to alleged SAF aerial strikes on Nyala in South Darfur.   “Broader peace efforts must squarely address the continued influx of arms that is fuelling the conflict and press for an end to the transfer of arms that are used in manifest disregard of the IHL obligations protecting civilians,” said Turk.   “I urge both parties to the conflict, and their affiliates, to commit to a ceasefire,” the High Commissioner added, stressing that a negotiated settlement with human rights at its core, and underpinned by accountability for the widespread violations and abuses that are occurring, is the only feasible pathway to sustainable peace in Sudan.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/10/1168661 http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/10/sudan-turk-alarmed-surge-drone-attacks-killing-hundreds-october   Sep. 2026   Sudan’s conflict worsening, UN political and peacebuilding chief warns.   On 24 August, the UN Security Council held a briefing on Sudan to discuss the protection of civilians and the humanitarian consequences of the ongoing conflict.   “The consequences of this conflict will be long-lasting and should shock us all,” said Rosemary DiCarlo, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs.   Civilians face one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, she said, as they deal with frequent drone attacks against markets, schools, fuel stations and water infrastructure.   Some 13 million people have fled their homes, but access challenges have made it impossible to confirm the true death toll, "it is likely to be in the hundreds of thousands", she said.   “Brutal mass killings and atrocities, abductions of women and girls and mass rapes are recurring patterns,” she warned.   In North Kordofan, drone attacks continue, she said reiterating deep concern at the imminent risk of large-scale atrocities by the Rapid Support Forces in and around El Obeid.   Briefing the Security Council Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator said more than two-thirds of the people of Sudan are in desperate need of lifesaving support.   "In North Kordofan’s El Obeid, drones are striking markets, fuel stations, and vital power and water infrastructure. Fighting has driven 15,000 families into the city since mid-July, placing even more pressure on displacement sites and services already pushed to the breaking point. More air strikes southwest of city have taken place in the last 72 hours.   Humanitarians are seizing every opportunity to reach those in need. But we need protection for civilians. We need de-escalation.   In South Kordofan, Dilling and Kadugli have been among our key priorities. Both are now accessible, although road conditions are deteriorating as the rainy season takes hold.   Similar challenges are reported in the eastern part of South Kordofan, which also hosts significant numbers of displaced people. I am also worried about West Kordofan, which has been the epicenter of a recent cholera outbreak, and where our presence remains limited.   In the Nuba Mountains, in the southern part of South Kordofan, intensifying violence is severing communities from help in an area already plagued by chronic food insecurity. Our humanitarian facilities have been breached and looted, and many aid workers detained. Access remains disrupted by the fighting.   Further east, renewed fighting in Blue Nile has displaced thousands in the last two weeks, just as heavy rains batter the region. Blue Nile now hosts more than 370,000 displaced people.   Some have fled into Ethiopia – a stark reminder of how this war is spilling across Sudan’s borders. There have been renewed attacks on the border towns of Geissan and Kurmuk.   Meanwhile, ground fighting and drone strikes continue to cripple humanitarian access in the north-western part of North Darfur State, while the rains make critical routes even more difficult to access.   Elsewhere in Darfur, hundreds of thousands who fled the atrocities in El Fasher last year remain in desperate need in places like Tawila – a reality I witnessed first hand on my recent visit.   Across Sudan, our teams navigate front lines, drone attacks, insecurity, and bureaucratic red tape. Despite these challenges, humanitarians continue the collective effort to reach those in greatest need.   Two thirds of the way through the year, we have received just over 40 per cent of the $2.87 billion required to our hyper-prioritized plan, focused exclusively on the most urgent, life-saving work. Funding for the Regional Refugee Response Plan is even lower – only 17 per cent of the $1.59 billion needed to support seven neighbouring countries has been met.   Refugees and those displaced inside Sudan are also being squeezed by these shortfalls. Despite immense pressure, Sudan continues to keep its doors open to those seeking safety.   I usually end these briefings with three asks: uphold international humanitarian law, fund the response, and help end the conflict. But today I won’t because this Council has heard those asks again and again. Instead, our ask is that we not have another meeting where the Council simply describes the problem.   Sudan does not suffer from a lack of analysis. It suffers from a lack of action. The people of Sudan need food, water and medicine. Yet the world sends drones, weapons and mercenaries.   The people of Sudan need sustained, courageous diplomacy. Yet the world is too often indifferent and distracted. The people of Sudan need peace and dignity. Yet others use Sudan's land and people as pieces in a regional struggle for power, gold and pride.   This Council is not powerless. The international community is not powerless. The tragedy of Sudan is not that we do not know what to do. It is that we have not yet found the will to do it".   http://www.msf.org/aid-cuts-force-mass-clinic-closures-across-sudan http://www.rescue.org/press-release/sudan-today-almost-half-million-people-have-lost-life-saving-health-water-and http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudans-harvest-risk-millions-face-worsening-hunger-2027 http://fews.net/east-africa/sudan/key-message-update/september-2026 http://www.msf.org/sudanese-refugees-face-effects-humanitarian-funding-cuts-chad http://www.msf.org/conflict-sudan http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-acting-executive-directors-press-conference-following-his-mission-sudan-remarks-delivered http://www.wfp.org/stories/sudan-fallout-how-shrinking-aid-deepening-one-worlds-biggest-hunger-crises http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-tells-security-council-sudan-suffers-lack-action http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-151/en/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/09/sudan-external-support-networks-are-fuelling-conflict-and-civilian-harm-un http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/ffm-sudan/index   July 2026   Atrocities in Sudan: when ‘never again’ becomes again, and again. (Guardian News)   This is not a drill. It is a red alert,” said the UN rights chief, Volker Turk, on Friday. He was warning that catastrophe was unfolding in the Sudanese city of El Obeid in north Kordofan with a population of over 500,000 people.   Near-siege conditions are tightening, relentless drone attacks continue and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and allies are massing around it.   Two decades ago, after the genocide in Darfur, the world said “never again”. But it is happening again, and few are even paying attention.   The alarm was raised repeatedly last year as the starvation siege of El Fasher in north Darfur deepened. Tens of thousands of people were killed in the subsequent massacre, with one witness describing “a scene out of a horror movie”.   UN investigators reported “the hallmarks of genocide”, including explicit calls to eliminate non-Arab communities. Civilians who fled were raped and murdered; so were those who stayed. Before El Fasher came a killing spree in Geneina by RSF-allied forces.   After more than three years of war in Sudan, hundreds of thousands have been killed, 15 million have fled their homes and the conflict is spilling into neighbouring states.   Both sides have committed war crimes. The relentless ambition of Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who leads the Sudanese Armed Forces, and the RSF leader, Gen Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, brooks no compromise. Yet the war of attrition might exhaust them were outside actors not fuelling the conflict – drawn by gold, gum arabic and potential geopolitical advantage.   Many states are pursuing their interests while Sudanese civilians suffer, but the UAE’s role is particularly critical. While it denies backing the RSF, rights groups and diplomats say it is their key supporter. The US and UK voice concern for Sudan, but have studiously ignored the role of the UAE, which has pledged to invest $1.4tn in the US. An Emirati royal has also put $500m into the Trump family’s cryptocurrency business.   A human rights investigator told British MPs last month that the UK had evidence linking Ethiopia and the Emirates to the RSF in 2024 – but that officials said they would not divulge it publicly following “significant” UAE pressure..   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/10/sudan-el-fasher-civilians-suffer-unlawful-killings-detention-and-torture-one-year-after-citys-capture-by-the-rsf-new-testimony/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/07/sudan-rsf-atrocities-in-el-fasher-a-stain-on-the-conscience-of-humanity-new-report/   July 2026   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk calls for strong action at the highest level to prevent atrocity crimes in Sudan:   The signs from El Obeid are clear and unmistakable: another human rights catastrophe is unfolding in Sudan, this time in the capital of the strategic state of North Kordofan.   Civilians have been subjected to siege-like conditions for 18 months, battered by relentless drone strikes as the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces battle for control over areas surrounding the city.   My Office documented 15 drone strikes on El Obeid and surrounding areas between 6 and 28 June, which killed at least 45 civilians and injured 41. The actual number of civilian casualties is likely higher.   Across the Kordofan region, drones launched by both sides have repeatedly struck markets, schools, fuel stations, water infrastructure, and civilian vehicles. In recent weeks, we documented damage to at least 13 fuel stations in El Obeid and Al Rahad from RSF drones.   These attacks, and fuel shortages, have a compound impact, making it difficult for civilians to access clean water, food, transport and healthcare, and to communicate with each other and the outside world.   Shortages of clean water are reaching a critical point in El Obeid. As the rainy season starts, this puts people at risk of waterborne diseases, including cholera. An influx of tens of thousands of people fleeing violence in other parts of Kordofan is straining resources even further.   People are selling their belongings to finance their escape from the city. For many, the exorbitant cost of transport, and constant attacks on vehicles along exit routes, make leaving impossible.   We have documented patterns of summary executions, abductions, torture and ill-treatment, sexual violence, and looting along the routes taken by displaced people across the Kordofan region.   Those who stay in El Obeid are also at risk of arbitrary arrest and detention. People who have fled areas controlled by the RSF and allied forces are frequently accused of collaboration. All this takes place against a backdrop of rising hate speech.   The international community cannot allow a repeat of the widespread atrocities that took place in Zamzam camp for displaced people, and in El Fasher in North Darfur last year.   My Office assessed that at least 6,000 people were killed in the span of just three days when the RSF captured El Fasher. We found the RSF and allied militia committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, including mass killings, summary executions, sexual violence, and torture.   These crimes were foreseen, with repeated warnings by myself and my Office. But they were not prevented.   This is not a drill. It is a red alert that needs to land on the desks of Heads of State and government around the world. Their phones should be running hot in the coming days and weeks, with ideas on how to prevent atrocity crimes in El Obeid and in other places in Kordofan, where the same strategies are being deployed.   Reports by my Office and others, call for strong action at the highest level. The UN Security Council needs to fulfil its responsibilities to prevent atrocity crimes. El Obeid is a classic case that shows why the use of the veto should be limited.   All leaders must use their influence to exert pressure on all parties, and particularly the RSF, to stop an offensive on El Obeid; to end strikes on civilians and essential infrastructure; to stop the flow of weapons; and to comply with their obligations under international law.   There also needs to be accountability for the crimes that have been committed. I welcome the continued engagement of the International Criminal Court on Sudan as a path to that end, in addition to efforts based on universal jurisdiction.   The safe and voluntary movement of civilians out of El Obeid must be guaranteed. We urgently need a humanitarian pause to allow for the unhindered delivery of food and humanitarian aid into the city and its surroundings.   We also need to pay far closer attention to the political economy of this war. The leaders of the warring parties bear the greatest responsibility for three years of appalling suffering. But behind them, domestic and foreign players are benefiting from the carnage.   We need to end the steady supply of weapons from outside the country to all sides, which continues with complete disregard for their use in contravention of international law. Without action to end this, the conflict risks continuing indefinitely. I repeat my call for the arms embargo on Darfur to be extended to the whole country.   I call for concerted efforts by the international community to assume its responsibilities to protect the people of Sudan, and support their efforts to build a peaceful, inclusive and democratic future.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/07/high-commissioner-turk-calls-strong-action-highest-level-prevent?sub-site=HRC http://www.msf.org/people-el-obeid-sudan-have-limited-services-drone-attacks-intensify http://www.msf.org/pregnant-women-eastern-chad-are-malnourished-amid-aid-cuts http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/07/sudan-mass-killings-abductions-and-gang-rape-carried-out-el-fasher http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/06/22/robust-global-action-is-key-to-curbing-sudan-atrocities http://raoulwallenbergcentre.org/en/news/2026-06-26 http://www.globaldispatches.org/p/sudan-is-on-the-brink-of-another   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/07/sudan-rsf-atrocities-in-el-fasher-a-stain-on-the-conscience-of-humanity-new-report/ http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/least-330-children-killed-or-injured-sudan-during-first-six-months-2026-conflict http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/sudan-el-obeid-families-dying-in-drone-strikes-as-hunger-spreads-ground-assault-feared http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/06/the-guardian-view-on-atrocities-in-sudan-when-never-again-becomes-again-and-again http://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/opinion/sudan-atrocity-africa-rsf.html http://humanrightscommission.house.gov/news/press-releases/co-chairs-call-us-corporations-reassess-uae-partnerships-amid-sudan-atrocity   18 June 2026   UN Secretary-General, Rights chief warn of impending atrocities as RSF militia closes in on El Obeid, Sudan. (UN News, agencies)   The United Nations Secretary-General has expressed deep alarm at the escalation of fighting in and around El Obeid, North Kordofan state, including drone attacks impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure.   He is particularly alarmed by reports of the deployment, by the Rapid Support Forces, of substantial military reinforcements around El Obeid which may indicate an imminent ground offensive on the city, potentially placing yet another major population centre in Sudan at grave risk of large-scale violence. (El Obeid has a reported population of over 500,000 people)   The Secretary-General calls for restraint from all parties and urges them to take all necessary measures to respect and protect civilians. The Secretary-General urges all those with influence over the parties to exert it to prevent further bloodshed.   We must not allow the horrors of El Fasher to be repeated in El Obeid. The Secretary-General reiterates his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.   The Secretary-General stresses that humanitarian workers and supplies must be able to move safely. Humanitarian operations must be protected and facilitated. El Obeid is a crucial hub for humanitarian response efforts across the broader Kordofan region.   Civilians who wish to leave must be allowed to do so safely. Those choosing to remain must be respected, protected and have access to the humanitarian relief they need.   The Secretary-General reminds all parties of their clear obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including to respect and protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and to facilitate rapid, safe, unhindered and sustained humanitarian access.   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk issued a stark warning that an imminent RSF offensive risked the fresh commission of serious international crimes and deepening the catastrophic impact on an already beleaguered civilian population.   El Obeid is the capital of North Kordofan state in Sudan, and its inhabitants have been strangled by siege-like conditions for more than 18 months.   “We have seen this playbook before. We know where it led then, and cannot now allow a repeat of the preventable atrocities we documented in El Fasher and Zamzam IDP camp in North Darfur last year. Civilians are at grave risk in Kordofan, particularly in El Obeid, in the absence of action to halt the imminent offensive and further military escalation,” the High Commissioner said.   “Let this be a stark warning to the world of an impending human rights disaster and worsening humanitarian situation. The States with influence have the duty to exercise it now to stop this madness in its tracks.”   Given the patterns of serious violations of international law documented by the UN Human Rights Office during RSF offensives on El Fasher and Zamzam IDP camp last year, the risk of summary executions, abduction, arbitrary detention and other violence against civilians is high, and must be prevented, the High Commissioner added.   The ever-increasing use of drones to conduct airstrikes is having a further devastating impact on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Kordofan. Over the past two weeks, there have been dozens of drone strikes on El Obeid, leading to loss of civilian lives. This has had a serious impact on civilian access to basic services.   The High Commissioner also urged parties to the conflict to ensure the safe movement of civilians who have been repeatedly forced to flee violence, and in search of basic services.   The RSF’s takeover of El Fasher in October 2025 was marked by widespread atrocities, including targeted ethnic violence, extrajudicial killings and executions. The UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan later concluded that the RSF committed crimes against humanity, war crimes and acts that may amount to genocide against non-Arab communities during its siege and subsequent takeover. Unconfirmed reports from December 2025 estimate that at least 60,000 people may have been killed since the RSF’s takeover.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/06/1167752 http://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statements/2026-06-18/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-sudan http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/06/sudan-imminent-offensive-el-obeid-must-be-halted-turk-warns-catastrophic http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/atrocity-alert-no-487/ http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-deputy-executive-director-hannan-suliemans-remarks-united-nations-security http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-warns-assault-sudans-el-obeid-area-threatens-deepen-countrys-hunger-crisis-0 http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/06/26/sudan-urgently-address-the-situation-in-and-around-el-obeid-take-bold-steps-towards http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/06/22/robust-global-action-is-key-to-curbing-sudan-atrocities   15 May 2026   WFP/FAO/UNICEF: Risk of Famine persists as nearly 19.5 million people face acute food insecurity in Sudan   Conflict, displacement and restricted humanitarian access leave more than 825,000 children at risk of death from severe malnutrition in 2026   The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF warned today that nearly 19.5 million people – two out of every five people in Sudan - are currently facing crisis levels of acute food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above) across Sudan, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis.   Although the latest IPC analysis did not identify areas currently experiencing Famine (IPC Phase 5), conditions remain extremely concerning. The analysis shows that nearly 135,000 people are facing Catastrophic food insecurity (IPC Phase 5) across 14 hotspots in Darfur, South Darfur, and South Kordofan are at risk of famine in the coming months.   More than five million people are classified under IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) and a further 14 million people are in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis). Conditions are expected to deteriorate further during the lean season between June and September.   As the civil conflict enters its fourth year, the protracted hunger crisis in Sudan shows little sign of abating as violence, displacement and severe humanitarian access constraints are impacting children, families and communities across the country.   Sudan is also facing a severe nutrition crisis. An estimated 825,000 children under five are expected to suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) in 2026, a seven percent increase compared to 2025 and 25 percent higher than pre-conflict levels recorded between 2021 and 2023. Between January and March this year alone, almost 100,000 children were admitted for treatment for severe acute malnutrition – which can lead to deaths if not treated urgently.   Um Baru and Kernoi localities recorded critical levels of malnutrition in December 2025. Acute malnutrition is expected to remain at extremely high levels in these localities with additional areas at risk of deteriorating, particularly in besieged areas and among internally displaced populations.   Conflict-driven displacement remains at extremely high levels, with close to nine million people uprooted within Sudan as of the end of March 2026. Many families remain trapped in active conflict zones or have sought refuge in remote areas with little or no access to humanitarian assistance or basic services.   The destruction of civilian infrastructure – including markets, health facilities, water systems, and agricultural assets – has severely constrained food production and access to essential services. Around 40 per cent of health facilities are non-functional, while an estimated 17 million people lack access to safe drinking water, and 24 million people lack access to adequate sanitation.   Repeated outbreaks of cholera, measles, malaria, dengue, hepatitis, diphtheria, and diarrheal diseases are further accelerating nutritional deterioration, especially among young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women.   Humanitarian access constraints remain among the most severe in the world. Insecurity, bureaucratic impediments, attacks along supply routes, destruction of markets and means of production as well as restrictions on the movement of people and goods continue to prevent humanitarian actors from delivering assistance at the scale required.   Only 20 percent of Sudan’s 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan had been funded as of April 2026. Humanitarian assistance remains critically inadequate compared to the scale of needs. Between February and May, humanitarian partners aimed to reach 4.8 million people per month. However, only an estimated 3.13 million people received assistance in February.   FAO, WFP, and UNICEF call for an immediate cessation of hostilities, for parties to the conflict to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, and provide safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access across conflict-affected areas.   The agencies also urge the international community to urgently scale up funding for food, emergency food production, nutrition, health, and water and sanitation services, as well as support for actions to rebuild livelihoods.   “To prevent further loss of life and starvation, we must urgently scale up emergency agricultural assistance to boost local food production,” said QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General. “Supporting vulnerable farming families with seeds, tools, and inputs is a highly effective way to restore access to nutritious food. Humanitarian access and funding for these life-saving agricultural interventions must improve immediately and at scale.”   “Famine continues to threaten the people of Sudan, as hunger and malnutrition are threatening millions of lives right now,” said WFP Acting Executive Director, Carl Skau. “WFP has been on the ground responding and is ready to do more, but humanitarian agencies cannot solve this alone. The international community must move now with funding, access and the political will to stop this crisis from becoming an even greater tragedy.”   “Across Sudan, children are trapped in a crisis of relentless violence, hunger and disease,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Many families have been displaced multiple times. Children suffering from severe acute malnutrition arrive at overstretched facilities too weak to cry. Without urgent action and sustained humanitarian access, more children will die.”   http://www.wfp.org/news/joint-news-release-wfpfaounicef-risk-famine-persists-nearly-195-million-people-face-acute-food http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/risk-famine-persists-nearly-195-million-people-face-acute-food-insecurity-sudan   14 April 2026   Three years of war: Sudan's people abandoned and hungry. (World Food Programme)   On the eve of three years of devastating war, the Sudanese people are still being left to cope with intense fighting and widespread suffering. Conflict is killing and injuring countless civilians, and leaving millions without access to food, shelter or sanitation, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.   The international community has failed to prevent and end this conflict and to protect the Sudanese people from atrocities,” said Carl Skau, WFP’s Deputy Executive Director, who just returned from Darfur.   “The people I met in camps have been through hell. They have fled their homes leaving everything behind and now live in appalling conditions. They deserve so much better. We need to make sure they are not let down again and provide the basic support they need.”   More than 19 million people still face acute hunger in Sudan, and famine continues to haunt parts of the country as violence, displacement and economic collapse grind on. Communities have been cut off from food, markets, and aid, and children have been forced to miss three years of education, with their future hanging in the balance. Sudan remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with almost two‑thirds of the population now in urgent need of assistance to survive.   Sudan’s hunger crisis now risks being compounded by the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. Disruptions in the Red Sea are delaying critical imports, driving up the cost of food, fuel and fertilizer. Fuel prices in Sudan have increased by over 24 percent, driving up food prices and leaving millions unable to afford the most basic staples.   These same disruptions are also directly impacting humanitarian operations, with delayed shipments and higher transport costs. The combined impact could push families across the country deeper into food insecurity.   “The women I spoke to across Sudan told me they don’t have enough to feed their children and have no access to the most basic services,” warned Skau. “WFP and the humanitarian community have the experience and capacity to step up our support. But to do so, we need humanitarian aid to be allowed to move freely, safely and at scale – and we need far more funding.”   WFP is hyper‑prioritizing famine zones and hard‑to‑reach areas, reaching 3.5 million people each month with emergency food, cash and nutrition assistance. Two‑thirds of those WFP assists are in Darfur and Kordofan, where famine is confirmed and where fighting is heaviest. More than two million children under five and more than 500,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls benefited from nutrition assistance last year.   WFP is also sustaining livelihoods and local food systems: During the last harvest season, WFP-supported farmers produced nearly one fifth of the country’s wheat, strengthening the local economy and reducing food insecurity.   “We need to continue investing in the future of the Sudanese people,” said Skau. “We can help communities rebuild their lives by expanding our support for farmers to grow their own food again and by providing school meals to help enable children to return to school. But we need the funding to do it.”   WFP food assistance has dropped by 14 percent since January, as compared to last year, due to a lack of resources; the agency urgently requires more than USD 600 million to sustain life-saving operations in Sudan for the next six months.   Sudan: A crisis the world cannot ignore, by Denise Brown, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan:   Sudan is the size of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain combined. It’s hard to miss. But the world seems to be able to look right past it as if it’s not there.   April 15th marks the third year of the war in Sudan; more than 9 million people have had to flee their homes within the country, living in temporary shelters, some so ragged they blow away with the haboob (dust storm) that arrives every year at this time.   Another 4.5 million have fled across borders into neighbouring countries, seeking one thing: to live without fear. More than 18 million people remaining in the country need support to make it through the day: food, healthcare, shelter, water. Pretty basic stuff that we all need to get by.   Sexual violence has its own special place within this brutal war. Women and girls, raped and gang-raped, particularly in Darfur. Sexual violence is being used as a weapon of war, with long-term consequences for individuals and communities.   Drone strikes are increasing, hitting civilian infrastructure, many related to the health services that are so desperately needed, and killing the civilians who use them. In El Obeid, North Kordofan State, the strikes go on all night long, one explosion after another.   Yet the people who fled the war in Khartoum three years ago are returning despite the remaining challenges.   "Homes can be taken from us, but what we hold in our memories and our hearts about home cannot be taken. And so, people return despite the remaining challenges. Home is where we all want to be".   The international aid community is here, but the Sudanese communities and organizations are the day-to-day frontline workers and the ones killed in the line of duty. Helping those who have had to flee their homes or those who want to go back.   "So far in 2026, the humanitarian response is only 16 per cent funded. That money just won’t stretch to cover the needs. People are dying here and suffering here and yet are determined to make it. They desperately need our support".   http://www.wfp.org/news/three-years-war-sudans-people-abandoned-and-hungry http://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-palais-briefing-sudan-three-years-war-sudan-three-years-too-many http://www.unicef.org/child-alert/children-under-threat-darfur http://plan-international.org/blog/2026/03/02/i-saw-children-without-school-safety-or-hope/ http://www.unocha.org/news/un-relief-chief-three-years-sudan-remains-test-world-failing http://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing-notes/three-years-war-weary-sudanese-remain-move http://www.unocha.org/news/sudan-three-years-crisis-world-cannot-ignore http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167301   http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/what-it-takes-to-eat-new-report-reveals-how-war-is-cutting-off-access-to-food-as-hunger-deepens-in-sudan http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/three-years-war-have-shattered-sudans-lifelines http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/three-years-agony-sudans-children-trapped-and-carry-deepest-scars http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/04/07/sudan-the-eu-must-act-for-sudans-civilians-at-three-years-of-conflict http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/ngo-statement-on-the-international-coalition-to-prevent-further-atrocities-in-sudan/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/03/11/new-sudan-atrocity-prevention-coalition-needs-to-act-fast http://www.globalr2p.org/publications/atrocity-alert-no-471/ http://unocha.exposure.co/darfurs-survivors http://humanitarianaction.info/plan/1514 http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167293 http://news.un.org/en/tags/sudan   24 Mar. 2026   The Sudan INGO Forum is appalled by the latest drone attack on Ed Dain Teaching Hospital in East Darfur, which killed at least 64 people, including 13 children, female nurses, doctors and multiple patients, and injured nearly 90 others.   This attack rendered the hospital completely non-functional, destroying essential departments including the emergency room, pediatric ward, surgery service and a stabilisation centre that was treating children with acute malnutrition and related medical complications. It was the only functioning public medical facility in Ed Dain and its destruction is cutting off lifesaving services for hundreds of thousands of civilians.   This is yet another grave violation of international humanitarian law, within a series of deadly escalations of drone attacks in recent weeks and months. Health facilities and health workers must never be targeted.   Sudan’s health system is already under extraordinary pressure. After nearly three years of war, up to 80% of health facilities in conflict-affected states have shut down, while those still operational face severe shortages of staff, medicine and essential supplies. Repeated attacks on healthcare facilities, over 200 attacks were verified by WHO between April 2023 and December 2025, have killed close to 2,000 people and injured hundreds more, the vast majority of them within the last year only.   At the same time, humanitarian funding is rapidly shrinking. According to interagency analysis, the imminent closure of legacy US-funded programs will result in the shutdown of at least 344 health facilities across 13 states, affecting an estimated 876,247 people every month. In East Darfur specifically, this loss of funding is expected to lead to the suspension of mobile clinics, primary healthcare services, and referral systems that communities depend on.   The destruction of a central facility such as Ed Dain Teaching Hospital, combined with the withdrawal of humanitarian health programming, risks creating a near-total collapse of healthcare access in the region.   The Sudan INGO Forum reiterates its urgent call on all parties to the conflict to:   Fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law and immediately cease attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals and health facilities. Respect and protect medical personnel, facilities, and transport at all times. Adopt and enforce a clear no-strike policy on critical civilian infrastructure. Ensure safe, rapid, and unhindered humanitarian access to all populations in need.   We further call on the international community to:   Strongly condemn this attack and all violations of international humanitarian law. Take urgent diplomatic action to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Sudan. Immediately increase and frontload humanitarian funding to mitigate the severe gaps created by program closures and sustain life-saving services, particularly in conflict-affected states.   The continued targeting of healthcare facilities, combined with the erosion of humanitarian service capacity, represents a devastating convergence that will cost countless lives unless immediate action is taken.   * The Sudan INGO Forum is the coordination and representation body for the international non-governmental organization (INGO) community in Sudan.   http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-drone-strike-ed-dain-teaching-hospital-represents-grave-escalation-attacks-healthcare-amid-increased-strain-health-system http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-deadly-escalation-drone-strikes-civilian-areas-must-end http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/sudan-war-refugees-pushed-into-hunger-as-livelihoods-collapse-across-the-region   10 Mar. 2026   Satellite images show Rapid Support Forces using ‘starvation strategy’ in Sudan. (Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, agencies)   Targeted attacks on farming communities by the Rapid Support Forces were intended to prevent villages producing food.   There is strong evidence that the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed a war crime by depriving the villagers of north Darfur of the means to produce food, legal experts argue in a new analysis published today calling for the Humanitarian Research Lab’s (HRL) revelations to be used in international courts.   The destruction of the villages, farming equipment and infrastructure all provide strong evidence of a “starvation strategy” against a population already struggling with food insecurity because of the war, says Tom Dannenbaum, a professor at Stanford Law School and a leading expert on the use of starvation in war.   “People were at the brink of starvation and objects indispensable to their survival were being destroyed,” says Dannenbaum, who co-authored the analysis alongside Yale Law School professor Oona Hathaway.   He says it was not merely the fact the villages had been attacked but the targeted destruction of livestock enclosures, as well as the forced displacement of the farmers, that led to reduced farming activity that suggested a deliberate attempt to prevent the villages from being able to produce food.   Dannenbaum and Hathaway believe the HRL research is a breakthrough in attempts to prove how a starvation strategy was imposed because of the way it uses remote sensing technologies. They also think there is potential for the same techniques to be used to investigate war crimes in places such as Gaza and Ethiopia.   “It’s evidence of extraordinary cruelty and the real horrors people have been facing,” says Hathaway. “The report provides a unique level of fine-grained, over-time analysis documenting exactly what was attacked, going far beyond our general knowledge of the fighting … [it] is of a quality that could be submitted in a court for criminal prosecution.”   The international criminal court has been investigating genocide in Darfur since the 2000s, and has issued calls for evidence related to recent violence including the takeover of El Geneina in West Darfur in June 2023, when RSF fighters imposed a months-long siege that killed tens of thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more people from the Masalit community.   The UN human rights council has also been documenting rights violations throughout the war and last month published a report saying the RSF’s attack on El Fasher last year bore the “hallmarks of genocide”, including a siege that imposed conditions designed to destroy non-Arab communities including the Zaghawa and Fur.   There have also been investigations into the “genocidal attack” on Zamzam in April 2025, which at the time was Sudan’s largest displacement camp, hosting about 700,000 people just south of El Fasher.   HRL’s researchers used sensors that can remotely detect the presence of fires, together with satellite imagery to monitor the locations of the attacks on these 41 villages, where it found there was a 2040% increase in fires during the period studied.   A quarter of the villages were attacked more than once, and after being attacked 68% of them show no signs of normal life. The researchers found that vehicles consistent with those used by the RSF could be identified near the scenes of the violence.   The attacks on villages began just months before the siege of El Fasher. HRL researchers believe this was part of a plan to cut the city off from the areas that fed it.   “They ripped out the breadbasket of El-Fasher as an intentional strategy to starve the city,” says Nathaniel Raymond, HRL’s executive director.   During the subsequent 18-month siege of El Fasher the RSF prevented food, water and medicine from entering the city, and constructed an earthen berm at least 19 miles long to physically prevent civilians from leaving.   Throughout the war the RSF have imposed long sieges on cities with large non-Arab communities such as El Geneina and El Fasher, before militarily taking them over.   The RSF now controls all of Darfur’s main cities but its use of siege tactics has continued in its fighting against the Sudanese army elsewhere, which has most recently been focused on the neighbouring Kordofan region.   Like Darfur, Kordofan is resource-rich with supplies of gold, oil and gum arabic, a key ingredient in cosmetics and soft drinks – Sudan provides 80% of the world’s supply. It is also the location of Kadugli, a city which alongside El Fasher, has been declared as suffering famine and where the price of staple foods such as sorghum are 1,000% higher than before the war.   In February, the Sudanese army announced that it had broken a siege on Kadugli that prevented aid trucks from arriving, but violence has continued and concerns remain that the RSF will try to reimpose siege conditions. On 20 February, a convoy of aid trucks that had waited weeks to reach the city was hit by a drone strike, killing four people.   Hunger is also growing in eastern Sudan’s Blue Nile state where farmers have not been able to access their land because of RSF attacks, leaving crops unharvested according to campaign group Avaaz, which reported that the price of flour rose 43% in January.   Raymond says that HRL’s work is evidence that the RSF is using hunger as a means of war and that unless they are investigated and held accountable, there is a threat of the same fate facing other communities.   “This report is quantitative proof of RSF’s intent, which is to prevent those they perceive as enemies from being able to feed themselves,” says Raymond. “What this means for Sudan is clear: what happened here can happen again.”   http://www.justsecurity.org/131508/report-new-evidence-starvation-darfur/ http://medicine.yale.edu/lab/khoshnood/news/ http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/ng-interactive/2026/mar/10/extraordinary-cruelty-images-show-longterm-starvation-strategy-in-sudan   Feb. 2026   Child malnutrition hits catastrophic levels in parts of Sudan. (UN News, IPC)   Acute malnutrition among children has reached catastrophic levels in parts of Sudan’s North Darfur and Greater Kordofan, UN-backed analysts warned on Thursday, as conflict, mass displacement and denials of aid push the country deeper into a famine-risk emergency.   According to an alert from the IPC, a global food security monitoring system, thresholds for acute malnutrition were surpassed in two new areas of North Darfur – Um Baru and Kernoi – following the fall of the regional capital, El Fasher, in October 2025 and a massive exodus.   December assessments found acute malnutrition levels among children of 52.9 per cent in Um Baru – nearly twice the famine threshold – and about 34 per cent in Kernoi. The IPC warned that conditions are deteriorating rapidly – and action is urgently needed.   “These alarming rates suggest an increased risk of excess mortality,” the experts said, adding that many other conflict-affected or inaccessible areas may be facing similarly catastrophic conditions.   Um Baru and Kernoi are in areas of northwestern North Darfur, near key displacement corridors leading toward the Chadian border. Both areas received large numbers of civilians fleeing fighting in and around El Fasher, where widespread atrocities occured.   Sudan’s war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has devastated food systems nationwide, triggering mass displacement and repeated disruptions to health, water and nutrition services.   The IPC alert draws urgent attention to the worsening conditions. It builds on earlier IPC analyses that confirmed famine (IPC Phase 5) in El Fasher, North Darfur in 2024, and Kadugli, South Kordofan, in September 2025 – and projected famine risk in at least 20 other areas across greater Darfur and greater Kordofan.   The new findings indicate that famine-like conditions are likely spreading beyond previously assessed locations, driven by continued fighting, displacement and the collapse of food, health and water systems, IPC analysts said.   Across the country, over 4.2 million cases of acute malnutrition are expected in 2026, including more than 800,000 cases of severe acute malnutrition, representing a sharp increase from 2025 levels, according to IPC analysis.   The IPC also warned of rapidly deteriorating conditions across Greater Kordofan, where famine was already confirmed in Kadugli and severe conditions were projected in Dilling and the Western Nuba Mountains. Without an immediate end to the fighting and large-scale humanitarian access, IPC experts said preventable deaths are likely to rise.   http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/countries-in-focus-archive/issue-143/en/ http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/02/1166931 http://news.un.org/en/tags/sudan http://www.unicef.org/sudan/stories/generational-crisis-looms-sudan http://www.savethechildren.net/news/children-dying-because-hunger-famine-risks-detected-two-new-locations-sudan http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-key-message-update-risk-famine-ipc-phase-5-persists-south-kordofan-and-north-darfur-march-september-2026   Feb. 2026   Sudan: Countdown to catastrophe in Kordofan, as world once again looks away. (NRC)   South Kordofan is now the epicentre of the war in Sudan, which has caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Civilians in this part of southern Sudan face intensified fighting and near-total blockage of humanitarian supplies, after a year of starvation and bombardment, the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Jan Egeland warned today.   At the end of his visit to South Kordofan, Egeland said he saw that the world was once again failing civilians in Sudan, with the clock ticking on further widespread atrocities.   “South Kordofan has become Sudan’s most dangerous and neglected frontline,” said Egeland. “After the horrors in El Fasher, Darfur, we cannot allow another civilian catastrophe to unfold on our watch. Entire cities are being starved, forcing families to flee with nothing. Civilians here have told me they are bombed and attacked where they live, pray, and learn. This is a man-made disaster, and it is accelerating towards a nightmare scenario.”   In Kadugli and Dilling, the main towns in South Kordofan, essential supply routes have been cut, leading markets to completely collapse. Trapped civilians are left with little or no access to food, cash, or basic services. Famine is taking hold in Kadugli, with Dilling at high risk of the same.   Thousands of people are now fleeing Kordofan in desperate journeys, having to navigate across frontlines, heading toward the Nuba Mountains – a region long isolated and impoverished, and now facing renewed violence. Others are fleeing to White Nile, Gedaref, and South Sudan. Journeys take days or weeks and are marked by hunger, theft, intimidation, and abuse.   Upon reaching the relative safety of displacement camps, families sleep on the bare ground or in overcrowded shelters. Aid groups like NRC are few, over-stretched, and under-funded. Essential items are critically scarce. Children are traumatised, malnourished, and out of school.   Egeland warned that the humanitarian response is nowhere near the scale required, as international agencies remain largely absent and access constraints continue to block aid delivery.   “With most international organisations’ operations scaled back, Sudanese local responders are holding the line under extreme pressure,” said Egeland. “They are running communal kitchens, evacuating families, and delivering aid under fire. They are doing everything possible, but we must do more to help them.”   “This is a critical moment,” said Egeland. “We know exactly where this leads if the world looks away again. History will judge us if we abandon the civilians of Sudan again to face endless violence and deprivation.”   NRC is appealing to the parties to the conflict for immediate humanitarian access and protection of civilians. It is calling for urgent funding for life-saving aid, and effective international engagement to prevent further suffering.   http://www.nrc.no/news/2026/sudan-countdown-to-catastrophe-in-kordofan-as-world-once-again-looks-away http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/02/high-commissioner-turk-calls-states-do-more-end-senseless-war-sudan http://www.msf.org/sudan-msf-treats-around-170-people-drone-injuries-two-weeks http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/12/un-human-rights-chief-warns-against-atrocities-sudans-kordofan-region http://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/statement-operational-humanitarian-country-team-sudan-violence-kordofan-region   19 Jan. 2026   Atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region are spreading from town to town in an organized campaign of violence that includes mass executions, rape and ethnic targeting, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court told the UN Security Council on Monday.   Briefing ambassadors, ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said the situation in Darfur had “darkened even further,” with civilians subjected to what she described as collective torture amid a widening war between Sudan’s rival military forces.   “The picture that is emerging is appalling: organised, widespread, mass criminality including mass executions,” Ms. Khan said. “Atrocities are used as a tool to assert control.”   Sudan has been engulfed in conflict since April 2023, when fighting erupted between former allies the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces militia (RSF).   What began as a power struggle metastasised into conflicts across the country, most devastating in the Darfur region, which also saw longstanding ethnic tensions – which prompted allegations of genocide in the early 2000s – being reignited.   She said the fall of North Darfur’s regional capital El Fasher to the RSF had been followed by a “calculated campaign of the most profound suffering,” particularly targeting non-Arab communities.   The crimes, she said, include rape, arbitrary detention, executions and the creation of mass graves, often filmed and celebrated by perpetrators.   Based on video, audio and satellite evidence collected, the ICC Prosecutor has concluded that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed in El Fasher, particularly in late October, following a prolonged RSF siege of the city.   Ms. Khan said video footage showed patterns similar to those documented in earlier atrocities in Darfur, including the detention, mistreatment and killing of civilians from non-Arab tribes.   “Members of the RSF are seen celebrating direct executions and subsequently desecrating corpses,” she said.   The Office of the Prosecutor is also advancing investigations into crimes committed in El Geneina, where witnesses have provided accounts of attacks on displacement camps, looting, gender-based violence and crimes against children.   In 2023, El Geneina witnessed some of the worst violence of the war as RSF fighters and allied militias carried out massacres against the Massalit community, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee into neighbouring Chad.   UN officials and human rights investigators described the violence as ethnically motivated and warned of possible crimes against humanity.   Evidence now indicates that the patterns of atrocities seen in El Geneina have since been replicated in El Fasher, Ms. Khan said.   “This criminality is being repeated in town after town in Darfur,” she warned. “It will continue until this conflict, and the sense of impunity that fuels it, are stopped.”   Sexual violence, including rape, is being used as a weapon of war, Ms. Khan said, adding that gender-based crimes remain a priority for ICC investigations. She acknowledged cultural and security barriers that prevent survivors from reporting abuse, stressing the need for gender-sensitive and survivor-centred investigations.   While much of the briefing focused on RSF abuses, the Deputy Prosecutor said the ICC was also documenting allegations of crimes committed by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), underscoring that all parties to the conflict are bound by international law to protect civilians.   http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-office-prosecutor-situation-el-fasher-north-darfur http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c75veyzz2g2o http://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/opinion/sudan-genocide.html http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/sudan-evidence-el-fasher-reveals-genocidal-campaign-targeting-non-arab http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/02/high-commissioner-turk-calls-states-do-more-end-senseless-war-sudan http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/02/1167003 http://www.unocha.org/news/ocha-urges-security-council-protect-civilians-and-aid-workers-sudan http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/12/sudan-must-address-ethnic-violence-and-prevent-further-escalation-un http://www.ohchr.org/en/meeting-summaries/2025/11/human-rights-council-calls-urgent-inquiry-recent-alleged-violations http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/01/26/iccs-work-vital-for-justice-in-darfur   Jan. 2026   1,000 days of war has devastating impact on the children of Sudan. (UNICEF)   “Since fighting erupted in April 2023, Sudan has become one of the largest and most devastating humanitarian crises in the world, pushing millions of children to the brink of survival.   A profound protection crisis with widespread violations of international law by parties to the conflict, exacerbated by a lack of humanitarian access, has deepened with each of the 1,000 days of agony that have passed.   "In 2026, 33.7 million people, about two-thirds of the population, are expected to need urgent humanitarian assistance. Half of them are children. Affected populations’ access to lifesaving aid remains dangerously constrained across large parts of the country, intensifying the humanitarian crisis.   “Children continue to be killed and injured – just this week, 8 children were killed in an attack in Al Obeid in North Kordofan.   “More than 5 million children have been forced from their homes – the equivalent of 5,000 children displaced every day - many of them repeatedly, with attacks and violence often following them as they move. Millions of children in Sudan are at risk of rape and other forms of sexual violence, which is being used as a tactic of war, with children as young as one reported among survivors.   "An estimated 21 million people are expected to face acute food insecurity in 2026. Famine has already been confirmed in Al Fasher and Kadugli, with an additional 20 areas across Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan at risk.   In North Darfur, the epicentre of Sudan’s malnutrition emergency, nearly 85,000 children with severe acute malnutrition were treated between January and November 2025, equivalent to one child every six minutes.   The collapse of health systems, critical water shortages and the breakdown of basic services are compounding the crisis, fuelling deadly disease outbreaks and placing an estimated 3.4 million children under five at risk.   “Behind these numbers are lives marked by fear, hunger and loss, as the conflict continues to rob children of safety, health and hope.   “Despite these extraordinary insecurity and access constraints, life-saving assistance continues to reach children wherever possible.   UNICEF and partners are delivering support to treat severe malnutrition, vaccinate against deadly diseases, provide safe drinking water, and offer protection and care to children affected by violence and displacement as funding permits.   “These efforts are keeping children alive under the most difficult conditions, but they remain far from sufficient in the absence of sustained access, adequate funding and a meaningful reduction in hostilities. Humanitarian action can save lives, but it cannot replace the protection that only peace can provide.   “UNICEF is urgently calling for an immediate end to the conflict. All parties must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law: protect civilians, stop attacks on infrastructure, and allow safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access across Sudan.   “Children in Sudan are not statistics. They are frightened, displaced and hungry, but they are also determined, resourceful and resilient. Every day, they strive to learn, to play, to hope, even as they wait for the world to act. Ending this conflict is a moral necessity. It cannot wait.”   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-sudan-have-endured-1000-days-agony http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/nutrition-survey-finds-unprecedented-level-child-malnutrition-part-sudans-north http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-warns-deepening-protection-crisis-sudan-violence-and http://www.wfp.org/news/families-sudan-pushed-brink-amidst-brutal-conflict-and-famine-wfp-resources-dry   Jan. 2026   Sudan: Two-thirds of people need aid as conflict reaches 1,000th day. (OCHA)   Today marks 1,000 days since the start of the war in Sudan, with civilians continuing to bear the brunt of a conflict they did not choose. Nearly 34 million people – or some two-thirds of the population – now need humanitarian assistance, making this the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.   It is also the largest displacement crisis, with 9.3 million people displaced inside the country and more than 4.3 million refugees in neighbouring states.   Food security conditions are catastrophic. Famine has been confirmed in El Fasher in North Darfur and in Kadugli in South Kordofan, with at least 20 other areas at risk. More than 21 million people are estimated to be acutely food insecure nationwide. Sieges in Kordofan have cut off Kadugli and Dilling, limiting access to food, markets and farmland.   The health system is close to collapse. Fewer than half of health facilities are fully functional, with even lower coverage in areas of active fighting. Cholera has been reported in all 18 states, with more than 72,000 suspected cases recorded last year.   Nearly 12 million people, mostly women and girls, are at risk of gender-based violence. Households headed by women are three times more likely to be food insecure, and three-quarters report not having enough to eat.   OCHA also reports continued fighting in Darfur, drone attacks and long-range strikes on civilian infrastructure.   Despite the mounting challenges, humanitarian partners reached millions of people in 2025, with local and women-led organizations often serving as the first or only responders in high-risk areas. However, access remains dangerous and politically constrained, and more than 125 aid workers have been killed since April 2023.   OCHA calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities, respect for international humanitarian law, safe access for aid, protection of civilians and aid workers, and renewed funding, especially for local and women-led partners.   http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026/article/sudan-4 http://humanitarianaction.info/plan/1514 http://news.un.org/en/audio/2026/01/1166795 http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2026/01/visiting-turk-salutes-sudanese-peoples-struggle-peace-calls http://www.wfp.org/news/families-sudan-pushed-brink-amidst-brutal-conflict-and-famine-wfp-resources-dry http://news.un.org/en/focus-topic/sudan-conflict-2023
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