UN warns of looming starvation in besieged Sudanese city of Al-Fasher

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has issued a dire warning that families trapped in the besieged Sudanese city of Al-Fasher are at imminent risk of starvation, amid severe food shortages and a deteriorating humanitarian crisis, the BBC reported.

For over a year, WFP has been unable to deliver aid to Al-Fasher by road, leaving some 250,000 residents cut off from essential supplies. The city, located in Sudan’s western Darfur region, has been encircled for nearly 16 months by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group attempting to wrest control of the area from the Sudanese army.

Local sources have already begun reporting deaths from hunger, as civilians resort to eating animal feed and food waste to stay alive. The WFP said the ongoing conflict has led to skyrocketing food prices and left families without viable means of survival.

“Everyone in Al-Fasher is facing a daily struggle to survive,” said Eric Perdison, WFP’s regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa. “People’s coping mechanisms have been completely exhausted by over two years of war. Without immediate and sustained access, lives will be lost.”

The agency also highlighted the testimony of Sondos, an eight-year-old girl who fled Al-Fasher with five relatives. “In Al-Fasher there was a lot of shelling and hunger. Only hunger and bombs,” she said. Her family had survived for weeks on millet alone.

Although WFP has food aid ready to deploy, previous convoys have been attacked, making safe delivery difficult. A shipment sent in early June was struck, with the RSF and the army trading blame for the assault. Since then, the UN has been pushing for a temporary ceasefire to allow humanitarian access to the city.

The blockade is part of a broader civil war that erupted in April 2023, now described by the UN as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Over 150,000 people have been killed nationwide, and approximately 12 million have been displaced from their homes. The conflict has also prompted mounting accusations of genocide in the Darfur region.

Despite calls for a week-long humanitarian truce in Al-Fasher, it remains unclear whether either side will honor a ceasefire or facilitate a new aid mission. Meanwhile, WFP officials stress the urgency of the moment.

“We are ready to move,” said a spokesperson. “But without guarantees of safe passage, we risk more loss, of food, of aid workers, and above all, of life.”