Sudan could be weeks away from a ‘catastrophic hunger crisis’

Published

2 years ago

March 17, 2024

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Sudan could be just weeks away from a catastrophic famine, aid workers have warned, as community volunteers struggle to feed the hungry amid security restrictions and armed violence.

War between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its former security partners the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in Sudan’s capital Khartoum during the final days of Ramadan in April 2023.

It has since spread to large parts of the country, with a violently paranoid security response crippling efforts to deliver aid and exposing local volunteers to arrest and harassment by warring parties.

This year, Ramadan has exposed the severity of the situation, with many people searching for a single meal and clean water to break their fast in the evening.

Anthony Neal, the coordinator for International Non-Governmental Organisations in Sudan, told Sky News: “We are potentially weeks away from a catastrophic hunger crisis in the Darfurs, Kordofans and Khartoum.

“In many ways, we are in the situation where we are confronted with the possibility of famine because of the level of bureaucratic restrictions we have faced over the last 11 months.”

Four out of five Darfur states are controlled by the RSF, as well as large areas of Khartoum. Fighting is ongoing in West Kordofan and South Kordofan, southern states that have been cut off from the rest of the country for months.

“Since December, we haven’t been able to move any supplies from Port Sudan to any areas under the control of the RSF,” said Mr Neal.

“To some extent due to conflict insecurity but also because we haven’t been able to receive the necessary permissions from SAF – mostly military intelligence and national security.”

Across Sudan, there are 17.7 million people facing acute food insecurity, according to the IPC Acute Food Insecurity classification. Close to five million of them are experiencing emergency levels of hunger and the World Food Programme (WFP) says they are largely in places where humanitarian access is limited due to heavy fighting and restrictions.

SAF has pledged to allow some level of cross border assistance into North Darfur from the Tina crossing in Chad and 60 trucks into Al-Geneina in RSF-held West Darfur from the Adre crossing but that is yet to materialise.

Volunteers from Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) are working in impossible conditions to fill the gap in these areas. Community initiatives borne out of the neighbourhood resistance committees that led protests against military rule in the 2019 revolution are now providing life-saving support in the absence of a state preoccupied by war.

Navigating shelling and airstrikes to buy food

In the residential area Burri in Khartoum, ERR volunteers are navigating shelling and airstrikes to go to markets and buy food to feed 170 families in their area. But market vendors only accept cash and funds are extremely limited.

“Our community kitchen is only able to offer a meal of ful – mashed fava beans – and even that is by the grace of God,” says an ERR volunteer there.

“The community kitchens in the tri-city capital have mostly ceased functioning and even those that are still operating have extremely limited output.”

Earlier this month, Khartoum State Emergency Room confirmed 221 of 300 community kitchens in the state had been suspended due to the continued interruption of telecommunications. This news came just as Ramadan was about to begin.

In North Darfur’s state capital Al-Fashir, where hunger levels are already deadly and thousands have been displaced from other Darfur states, the efforts of ERR volunteers are now paralysed.

Their widespread distribution of clean water, supplies and food to displacement camps, shelters and health centres has ceased with the end of grant assistance.

“The situation during Ramadan is much more difficult as the emergency room has stopped providing any service due to the lack of a grant for any services,” Mohamed told us from Al-Fashir.

“We are now struggling to offer a single meal for people to break their fast.”

State authorities actively restricting volunteers

Mohamed and other ERR volunteers work hard to provide a plate of pasta or rice with meat for people to break their fast at the end of the day.

ERR volunteers are also working with great difficulty in army-held areas.

In another displacement hub, River Nile state capital Atbara, they are providing support to 400 families living in shelters.

“We are doing everything that is possible and everything that is impossible as an individual, group or charitable effort to fill the gap – fighting to provide the displaced with the simplest of necessities for living,” Abeer told us from there.

But not only are state authorities not helping, they are actively restricting volunteer response.

Mr Neal said: “In River Nile state, we have seen a crackdown on local civil society which has restricted a local response at scale to fill gaps in state services.

“They have essentially banned the change in service committees and there has basically been a restriction on the civil society space which does not make it easy for local responders to step up and provide assistance.”

William Carter, the Sudan country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Sudan, said: “We have been alarmed by increasing probabilities that millions in Sudan would be facing catastrophic hunger for many months now.

“None of the trend lines that would change this default have materialised – improved macroeconomic situation, reduced fighting and displacement, improved humanitarian access.”

“We’ve been surprised that other parts of the international system have downplayed the famine risks for so long.”

World

Gaza ceasefire ‘resumes’ after killings and suspension of aid test fragile truce

Published

8 mins ago

October 20, 2025

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Gaza ceasefire 'resumes' after killings and suspension of aid test fragile truce

The Israeli military has said that a ceasefire in Gaza would hold after the truce was seriously tested by an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and a wave of airstrikes that killed 36 Palestinians.

Aid supplies into the enclave are due to resume on Monday following US pressure, an Israeli security source said, shortly after Israel announced a halt in supplies in response to what it called a “blatant” violation by Hamas of the truce.

A little over a week has passed since the start of the US-proposed ceasefire aimed at ending two years of war.

Israel‘s military said militants fired at troops in areas of Rafah city that are Israeli-controlled, according to agreed-upon ceasefire lines.

The military said Israel responded with airstrikes and artillery, hitting dozens of Hamas targets. It also said its forces struck “terrorists” approaching troops in Beit Lahiya in the north.

Health officials said at least 36 Palestinians were killed across Gaza, including children.

One airstrike hit a former school sheltering displaced families in the area of Nuseirat, killing four people, according to Al Awda Hospital, which received the casualties.

Another hit a tent in the Muwasi area of Khan Younis in the south, killing at least four people, including a woman and two children, according to Nasser Hospital.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed the military to take “strong action” against any ceasefire violations but did not threaten to return to war.

The armed wing of Hamas continued to accuse Israel of multiple ceasefire violations, but said it remained committed to the ceasefire agreement.

It said communication with its remaining units in Rafah had been cut off for months, adding “we are not responsible for any incidents occurring in those areas”.

In a statement on social media on Sunday evening, the IDF said it had “begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire, in line with the terms of the agreement”.

“The IDF will continue to uphold the ceasefire agreement and will respond firmly to any violation of it,” it added.

An Israeli source told Sky News: “The bottom line is that we’re done responding. We are now back to where we were this morning before their attack.”

Fearing the truce may collapse, some Palestinians, many of whom have lacked sufficient food for months, rushed to buy goods from the main market in Nuseirat.

Further south in Khan Younis, other families fled their homes and shelters after airstrikes hit nearby.

Major hurdles still stand in the way of a long-lasting peace in Gaza. An earlier ceasefire collapsed in March when Israel launched a barrage of airstrikes.

The new ceasefire began on 10 October, but for days the Israeli government and Hamas have been trading accusations of ceasefire violations.

A senior Egyptian official involved in the ceasefire negotiations said “round-the-clock” contacts were under way to de-escalate the situation.

Israel on Saturday pressed Hamas to returning the remains of all 28 dead hostages as promised under the ceasefire, saying the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt would stay closed “until further notice”.

Hamas says it has no reason to keep the bodies of the remaining hostages, but that it needs special equipment
recover corpses buried under rubble.

A Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil al Hayya has arrived in Cairo to follow up the implementation of the ceasefire deal with mediators and other Palestinian groups.

The next stages are expected to focus on disarming Hamas, Israeli withdrawal from additional areas it controls in Gaza, and future governance of the devastated territory.

The US plan proposes the establishment of an internationally-backed authority.

World

‘Priceless’ jewellery stolen from Louvre museum in Paris – as authorities reveal details of daring raid

Published

15 hours ago

October 19, 2025

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'Priceless' jewellery stolen from Louvre museum in Paris - as authorities reveal details of daring raid

“Priceless” jewellery has been stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris – as authorities revealed details of the daring raid that has forced the closure of the world famous landmark.

The museum, which is the world’s most popular, drawing up to 30,000 visitors a day, said on X it was closing for “exceptional reasons” on Sunday.

In a separate post, culture minister Rachida Dati said there had been a robbery and she was on site alongside museum and police teams.

French interior minister Laurent Nunez said the “major robbery” involved intruders entering the museum via a basket lift using a platform mounted on a lorry.

“They broke a window and went towards several display cases where they stole jewellery,” he added.

“These are jewels that have genuine heritage value and are, in fact, priceless.”

Mr Nunez told France Inter radio the robbery lasted seven minutes, while the interior ministry said the criminals fled on two motorbikes. No injuries have been reported.

The robbers were well-prepared, Mr Nunez said, and “had done scouting”, cutting window panes “with a disc cutter” before escaping “on a TMAX” (a type of Yamaha maxi-scooter).

The robbery took place between 9.30 and 9.40am (8.30-8.40am UK time), the French government said in a statement, adding an investigation has begun, forensic work was under way and “a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled”.

Hooded criminals carrying “small chainsaws” entered the building from the River Seine side, where construction work is taking place, French daily newspaper, Le Parisien, said, quoting preliminary findings from the police investigation.

Intruders went to the Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo Gallery), home to a selection of the French Crown Jewels, the ministry said.

The robbers escaped with nine pieces of jewellery from Napoleon and the Empress’s collection.

A necklace, a brooch, a tiara, were among the items taken from the Napoleon and French Sovereigns display cases. A third robber stayed outside, Le Parisien said.

One of the stolen gems was later found broken outside the museum, according to the paper, which said it was believed to be Empress Eugenie’s crown.

Police sealed off the museum and evacuated visitors. New arrivals were turned away and nearby streets were closed, according to the interior ministry.

Social media users posted pictures and videos from in and outside the building, with one people leaving in what the user described as “total panic”.

On person on X said they were there and reported a confused-sounding scene of police “running near pyramid and trying to enter the Louvre from glass side doors but they were locked and they could not enter”.

“Everyone inside was running and banging on glass doors to get out, but could not open. Police and military police arrived,” they added.

It’s not the first time the museum, one of the world’s most famous and a French national landmark, has been targeted by thieves.

In 1911, the Mona Lisa vanished from its frame, stolen by a former worker who hid inside the museum and walked out with the painting under his coat.

It was recovered two years later in Florence – an episode that helped make Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait the world’s best-known artwork.

In 1983, two Renaissance-era pieces of armour were stolen and only recovered nearly four decades later.

The museum’s collection also bears the legacy of Napoleonic-era looting, containing 33,000 works of art, including antiquities, sculptures and paintings.

In addition to the Mona Lisa, its star attractions feature the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

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World

Hamas hands over bodies of two more hostages, Israel confirms

Published

1 day ago

October 19, 2025

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Hamas hands over bodies of two more hostages, Israel confirms

Israel has received the bodies of two more hostages from the Red Cross, the Israeli prime minister’s office has confirmed.

Shortly after 10pm UK time on Saturday, Israel’s military said Hamas handed over “two coffins of deceased hostages”.

There has been no identification of the bodies yet.

The news came as tensions were beginning to rise over the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

Benjamin Netanyahu‘s office had said earlier on Saturday evening that it would stay closed “until further notice” – as the deadline for Hamas to return the bodies of the hostages had passed with no confirmation.

Mr Netanyahu had warned that its reopening would depend on how Hamas fulfilled its role in returning the remains of all 28 dead hostages.

The handover brings the count of returned bodies to 12 hostages, up from 10, according to Israel’s tally. Another 16 deceased hostages would then still have to be returned.

All 28 were supposed to have been handed over by last Monday.

The handover of remains is among key points – along with aid deliveries into Gaza and the devastated territory’s future – in the ceasefire process meant to end two years of war.

Israel’s foreign ministry had originally said the Rafah crossing would likely reopen on Sunday – another step in the fragile ceasefire. This has now been revised to being closed “until further notice”.

A fully reopened crossing would make it easier for Gazans to seek medical treatment, travel internationally or visit family in Egypt, which is home to tens of thousands of Palestinians.

It is unclear who will operate the crossing’s heavily damaged Gaza side once the war ends.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s ruins were being scoured for the dead, over a week into a ceasefire. Newly recovered bodies brought the Palestinian toll above 68,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The ministry, part of the Hamas-run government, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count. But the ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts.

Famine declared

Israel has disputed them without providing its own toll.

Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the attack on southern Israel that sparked the war on October 7 2023.

Gaza’s more than two million people are hoping the ceasefire will bring relief from the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel’s offensive. Throughout the war, Israel restricted aid entry to Gaza – sometimes halting it altogether.

Famine was declared in Gaza City, and the UN says it has verified more than 400 people who died of malnutrition-related causes, including more than 100 children.

Officials in Israel say they have let in enough food, accusing Hamas of stealing much of it. The UN and other aid agencies deny this claim.