Sudan Faces Famine as Civil War and Inflation Surge

Sudan is enduring a humanitarian catastrophe as a three-year civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) converges with severe El Niño-induced drought and economic collapse. The conflict has recently escalated into a drone war, with the United Nations reporting 306 deaths and hundreds of injuries in the first three weeks of October 2026 alone.

Economic instability has crippled the population, with the Sudanese pound plummeting from 600 to over 10,000 per US dollar on the parallel market. In Khartoum, food prices have surged, forcing families to skip meals. This instability is fueled by the destruction of infrastructure and the plundering of gold reserves by military leaders on both sides, who smuggle the commodity through Chad and South Sudan to fund their war efforts.

Famine is looming in Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, where crop failures have left 19.5 million people experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity. The healthcare system has similarly collapsed, with the World Health Organization reporting that 37% of health facilities stopped functioning by 2026.

International response remains critically underfunded, with the UN response plan only 46.5% funded following a reduction in American aid. On October 23, a coalition of 30 nations and the European Commission issued a joint statement urging combatants to lift impediments to humanitarian aid to prevent mass mortality, particularly among children.