Attachments
How Over a Year of Violence and Humanitarian Access Restrictions Have Produced Famine Conditions
This report – part of a series examining the links between conflict and hunger – focuses on reported conflict-related incidents involving food-related violence in Sudan between 15 April 2023 and 31 November 2024. These incidents included the damaging and destruction of markets and food production factories by explosive weapons use and arson; the looting of markets, food aid and livestock; and incidents of violence directly affecting people at markets and travelling to and from markets. Other factors undermining food security included blockades disrupting food supply chains and humanitarian food aid deliveries, and restrictions on access to agricultural land due to insecurity.
The report indicates how over a year of persistent violence and severe humanitarian access restrictions directly led to the famine conditions declared in parts of Sudan in July 2024. The repetition of violent incidents directly affecting objects that are indispensable to the survival of the civilian population suggests that conflict parties have, in some cases, taken limited – or even no – precautionary measures to protect these objects. The analysis is based on the Food Insecurity and Violent Conflict (FIVC)-Sudan dataset, an event-based dataset compiled by Insecurity Insight from open sources and partner contributions, and available for download on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX).
Key findings
Violence at markets
- Violent incidents at markets were the most frequently reported category of food-related violence identified in the reporting period, with at least 236 such incidents being recorded in Sudan between 15 April 2023 and 30 November 2024. They included:
- 64 incidents in which markets were struck by aircraft- or drone-delivered explosive weapons, the majority of which were attributed to the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in Khartoum state;
- 40 incidents in which markets were struck by artillery fire or other forms of shelling, with the conflict parties responsible for them split in similar proportions between the SAF and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), and the majority occurring in Khartoum state;
- the large-scale looting, forcible taking of items from, and torching of markets, especially in Darfur; and
- physical violence towards and the abduction of people at markets or travelling to and from markets.
Disruption of agricultural production and the forcible taking of agricultural and livelihood facilities and resources
- In Gezira state, which was known as Sudan’s “breadbasket” before the current conflict started, the RSF has forcibly taken crops and harvests on a large scale since it took control of Wad Medani, the state capital, in December 2023. The RSF is also reported to have forcibly taken tractors and fertilisers from the Gezira irrigation scheme, which is the country’s flagship agricultural irrigation project, and plundered warehouses storing food.
- Livestock were looted or forcibly taken on at least 85 occasions between 15 April 2023 and 30 November 2024. The incidents were mainly attributed to the RSF and other Arab militias operating across the Darfur and Kordofan regions.
Indications of intentionality
- Satellite imagery included in the report indicates that in some cases conflict parties may have deliberately targeted markets.
- The statements and actions of some conflict parties suggest that they have intentionally obstructed access to and the delivery of humanitarian aid to populations under the control of opposing conflict parties. Vehicles carrying commercial supplies have also been stopped at checkpoints controlled by armed groups and subjected to extorted charges for passage through the checkpoints.
Impact
- In the emergency aid response, local Sudanese nationals have been disproportionally affected. Among the 67 reported killings of aid workers in Sudan documented by Insecurity Insight, at least 62 were local rather than international staff, and 20 were volunteers working primarily for local organisations such as community kitchens.
- Restrictions on humanitarian aid deliveries coupled with the collapse of much of Sudan’s health care system have exacerbated the adverse consequences of food insecurity in Sudan. Pregnant and lactating women and young children have been especially vulnerable.
Limitations on data collection
- Reporting barriers, including large-scale telecommunications blackouts, mean that the incidents documented in this report are only likely to provide a partial insight into food-related violence in Sudan and its impact on food security.