'Severe hunger crisis': People in Sudan resort to eating soil and leaves to survive

NEW DELHI: The ongoing

civil war

in Sudan has led to a severe food crisis, with people in some areas resorting to extreme measures like eating soil and leaves to survive. The Al Lait refugee camp in North Darfur has seen an influx of displaced people, including Garang Achien Akok and his family, who fled their village after it was attacked by Arab militiamen.

With no work and limited food, Akok's family sometimes goes days without eating, forcing them to consume soil to stave off hunger.
Hunger and starvation are spreading across Sudan as the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) continues. Agriculture has been devastated, with farmers' crops stolen by the RSF and many fleeing their lands due to violence.

A group of children roast peanuts at a school in Port Sudan that has been converted into a center for displaced persons, amid a severe food crisis in Sudan (Pic credit: Reuters)
Malaria and other diseases are spreading among the displaced, while key aid hubs have been looted by the RSF and its allied militias.

According to a report from Reuters, military is blocking international aid from reaching people in areas where starvation has set in. The food crisis is affecting people across all socioeconomic classes in Sudan. In middle-class neighborhoods of Khartoum, residents like Lina Mohammed Hassan and her family have been trapped by the fighting, surviving on limited supplies of lentils and rice. As the situation worsened, they resorted to eating boiled tree leaves. Many families have fled the capital, facing violence and assault at RSF-controlled checkpoints.

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan. Residents in the city have found themselves besieged in their homes, trapped between the paramilitary RSF and the army. (Pic credit: Reuters)
The chaos in Sudan's breadbasket regions is further exacerbating the food crisis. In El Gezira, which accounts for over half of Sudan's wheat production, the RSF has been plundering harvests and destroying farming equipment. This has left farmers unable to finance new crops and has crippled the region's ability to produce food.
Flour mills, food factories, and ranches have also been destroyed in the fighting, including the only factory in Sudan that produced therapeutic food for malnourished children.
As the hunger crisis worsens, international

aid agencies

are struggling to deliver food and medical supplies to the areas most in need. The Sudanese army has made it increasingly difficult for aid to reach RSF-controlled areas, using food as a weapon of war. Bureaucratic hurdles and the looting of aid warehouses by the RSF have further hampered relief efforts. With the approaching rainy season, aid agencies are in a race against time to reach those in need.

People sleep in a shelter for displaced persons in Omdurman. The country has become the world's largest displacement crisis as the civil war passes the one-year mark. (Pic credit: Reuters)
In the refugee camps of North Darfur, the situation is particularly dire. Residents have resorted to eating soil and tree leaves, as they have been cut off from aid and employment opportunities.

Malnutrition

and disease are claiming lives, especially among children. Surveys conducted by Doctors Without Borders have found alarming rates of acute malnutrition, with many children at risk of dying without immediate treatment.
As the war in Sudan continues, the food crisis is only expected to worsen. Without urgent action to facilitate the delivery of aid and end the conflict, the country faces the prospect of widespread

famine

and a catastrophic loss of life.