Hungry children in war-torn Sudan's capital have been reduced to "skin and bones," and thousands of families are at risk of starvation in a western city under a months-long siege, the UN said on Tuesday.
The Sudanese army, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, recaptured Khartoum state in May, but widespread hunger continues to grip the heart of Africa's third-largest country.
"Malnutrition is rife, and many of the children are reduced to just skin and bones," UNICEF's Sheldon Yett said on Teusday after visiting Sudan, where the world's largest hunger crisis is unfolding, with nearly 25 million people suffering dire food insecurity.
The epicentre of the crisis, however, is the besieged North Darfur state capital of El-Fasher, more than 1,000 kilometres west of Khartoum, where thousands are in danger of starvation, the UN's World Food Program said on Teusday.
"Everyone in El-Fasher is facing a daily struggle to survive," said Eric Perdison, the WFP's regional director for eastern and southern Africa.
The RSF has besieged and sought to seize El-Fasher, the only major city in Darfur still under army control, since May 2024.
"People's coping mechanisms have been completely exhausted by over two years of war. Without immediate and sustained access, lives will be lost," Perdison said in a statement.
The WFP said food prices had soared by 460% compared to the rest of the country, forcing soup kitchens to shut while aid remains blocked.
Famine was declared a year ago in the displacement camps surrounding El-Fasher, and the UN estimated it would take hold in the city itself by last May. A lack of data has prevented an official famine declaration.
An attack on a UN humanitarian convoy heading towards El-Fasher in June killed five aid workers.
"We have not had access to the horrible situation unfolding in El-Fasher, despite trying for months and months and months," Yett told reporters in Geneva on Teusday, adding "we have not been able to get supplies there."
Civilians are reportedly surviving on animal fodder and food waste, with nearly 40% of children under five acutely malnourished, according to UN figures.
Civilians in El-Fasher -- who hide from shelling in makeshift bunkers -- continue to come under fire as the RSF presses an assault to consolidate control over the entire Darfur region.
Its most recent major attack in April killed hundreds in the Zamzam displacement camp just outside El-Fasher, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee to the city and the nearby town of Tawila, where a devastating cholera outbreak now rages.
