Humanitarian Aid In Sudan Is On The Brink Of Running Out

Aid System at Breaking Point

The United Nations is warning that Sudan’s humanitarian lifeline is nearing collapse as funding shortfalls, access constraints amid sustained fighting. After more than a thousand days of civil war, the World Food Programme (WFP) says food aid could run out within weeks unless $700 million is urgently secured, underscoring how the conflict has pushed the world’s worst hunger and displacement crisis to the brink.

Three years of war between Sudan’s military government and UAE backed RSF militias have killed tens of thousands, allegedly displacing millions. According to the WFP, more than 21 million Sudanese, nearly half the population, now face acute hunger.

Famine has already been confirmed in areas where months of fighting have rendered aid access nearly impossible. The requested $700m would keep WFP operations running only through June, highlighting the scale of the funding gap.

“Absolute Minimum for Survival”

Ross Smith, WFP’s director of Emergency Preparedness and Response, said the agency has already exhausted its margins. “WFP has been forced to reduce rations to the absolute minimum for survival. By the end of March, we will have depleted our food stocks in Sudan,” he said. “Without immediate additional funding, millions of people will be left without vital food assistance within weeks.”

The warning comes amid a sharp drop in humanitarian funding, driven in part by shifting donor priorities and what aid officials describe as an ideological pullback under President Donald Trump’s administration in the United States. Aid agencies are also competing with multiple global crises for limited donor attention, further constraining Sudan operations at a moment of peak need.

Atrocities and Accountability Gaps

The humanitarian emergency is compounded by reports of escalating atrocities. The UAE backed RSF has been accused of indiscriminate killing, mass rape, and ethnic violence, particularly in Darfur and Kordofan. Sudan Doctors Network said that “over 200 people, including children and women, [were] killed on ethnic grounds by the Rapid Support Forces in the Ambro, Serba, and Abu Qumra areas.”

With alleged massacres committed all throughout the civil war in the last 3 years, various reports kept coming out showing the level of atrocities the Sudanese were facing helplessely, reinforcing concerns raised by human rights monitors about systematic abuse running rife amid the blockade.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk, visiting northern Sudan on Thursday, called for an “all-out effort” by the international community to allow aid groups to “provide the much-needed humanitarian assistance that is required under the circumstances.” Both the Sudanese military and the RSF have been accused of war crimes, though accountability mechanisms remain stalled.

Regional Mediation and External Tensions

Diplomatic efforts have failed to halt the war. Initiatives led by the U.S. alongside Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have not secured a ceasefire. A meeting in Cairo this week involving officials from the four countries, the UN, the European Union, and regional bodies aimed to revive talks, but progress remains elusive.

The Sudanese government has accused the UAE of backing the RSF, a claim Abu Dhabi still denies. These allegations have begun to strain broader relationships. According to a report by The Telegraph, rulers of Abu Dhabi also known as “the Al Nahyan brothers” have spent decades positioning the UAE as a key Western ally, but claims of RSF support are now testing those ties.

As diplomacy stalls, aid agencies warn that civilians will pay the immediate price, as food stocks dwindle, medical services collapse, and displacement deepens in conflict affected places like Sudan. The consequences are expected to unfold rapidly, not in months, but in weeks, leaving millions exposed to hunger, disease, and violence long before any political breakthrough is in sight.