Four Sudanese Cities Under Siege as Hunger Pushes Civilians to the Brink of Death
Darfur–Kordofan, (Altaghyeer) – Fatima* left her tent in Abu Shouk camp, North Darfur, to look for food for her five children, all weakened by hunger. When she returned, she found that one of them had died from acute malnutrition. With community kitchens in El Fasher shut down and food supplies cut off, families are left to starve.
Fatima’s story is far from unique. Dozens of mothers across besieged Sudanese cities have buried their children, victims of hunger and disease as the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) drags into its third year. Behind closed doors, voices fade and cries are silenced under the weight of despair.
El Fasher Under Siege: Eating Cattle Feed to Survive
For more than 15 months, the RSF has imposed a total siege on El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, trapping over half a million residents without food or medicine. Basic staples such as sugar, flour, lentils, and onions have vanished from the markets, and life-saving medicines are nearly impossible to find.
Desperate families have turned to eating ambaz—residue from groundnut and sesame oil production usually fed to livestock—after community kitchens shut down, a stark illustration of the city’s deepening food crisis.
“We are losing four people every week to hunger and disease in Abu Shouk camp alone,” said Mohamed Adam, the camp’s media officer. He reported 21 deaths in just 45 days. “People are eating ambaz and tree leaves just to quiet their stomachs. The situation is catastrophic and requires urgent air drops of food to save lives.”
The Sudanese government has formally appealed to the UN to carry out emergency food airlifts to El Fasher and surrounding areas under its direct supervision. International organizations have repeatedly warned of famine-level conditions, but RSF forces have ignored urgent UN calls to allow humanitarian access.
Kadugli and Dilling: Cut Off From Food and Communication
In South Kordofan, the cities of Kadugli and Dilling—home to tens of thousands—face a similar siege. Both have been cut off after RSF and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N, led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu) closed the main supply routes, including the Dilling–El Obeid road and the Abu Naama–Kadugli trade route.
With markets empty, families are surviving on leaves and wild grasses. “There is no sugar, no flour, no oil in Kadugli,” said a member of the city’s emergency room, speaking anonymously for security reasons. “People have no money left and no food aid can get through.”
Kadugli has also lost internet access after authorities confiscated Starlink devices and activists’ phones, citing alleged collaboration with SPLM-N. Locals warn that continued road closures will plunge the city into famine.
The deputy governor of South Kordofan acknowledged the collapse of basic services, including water, health care, electricity, and communications, urging urgent humanitarian assistance.
El Obeid: A City on the Edge
In North Kordofan’s capital, El Obeid, thousands of displaced families have fled nearby villages into a city now suffering severe shortages, renewed clashes, and airstrikes. Volunteer Mohamed El-Amin described “catastrophic” conditions, with electricity blackouts, skyrocketing food prices (up 500% since the war began), and soaring water costs—US 20 per barrel.
“The hospitals have no fuel to run generators, and public health is collapsing,” he said. Meanwhile, drone strikes and artillery shelling continue to kill civilians, forcing people from their homes.
RSF recently issued a warning urging civilians to remain indoors, while local authorities dismissed the group’s claims of advances on the city as “false propaganda.” Despite reassurances, fear and hunger dominate daily life.
Women’s Protests Crushed in Kadugli
Last month, dozens of women in Kadugli staged rare protests over deteriorating conditions, only to be met with repression and arrests under the state of emergency. Human rights groups accuse both warring parties of using starvation as a weapon of war.
A Nation Starving
Sudan is facing the world’s largest displacement crisis and one of its worst hunger emergencies. Nearly 25 million people—half the population—require food assistance, while humanitarian agencies warn that air drops may be the only way to reach besieged cities as ground routes remain closed and the rainy season worsens access.
For Fatima and countless others across El Fasher, Kadugli, Dilling, and El Obeid, survival hangs in the balance. Their lives, already stripped of homes and livelihoods, are now reduced to the desperate hope that aid planes may break the siege before hunger claims more lives.
*Name changed to protect identity
- This report is published by the Sudan Media Forum and member institutions, adapted from original reporting by (altaghyeer), to shed light on the catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Sudan’s besieged cities, where families are forced to eat animal fodder while waiting for food aid that has yet to arrive.
