Cairo: Famine has spread across war-torn Sudan and is expected to spread further, a UN-backed assessment said on Tuesday, with refugee camps and displaced communities particularly affected.

The Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) review, used by UN agencies, determined that famine had spread to two additional IDP camps in the west and parts of the south. country.

Sudan is reeling from 20 months of fighting between the Sudanese army and rapid support paramilitary forces, led by rival generals, which has led to a serious humanitarian crisis.

War since April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 12 million, creating what the United Nations has called the world’s largest displacement crisis.

In its latest report released Tuesday, the IPC said 638,000 people now face catastrophic levels of hunger, with another 8.1 million on the brink of starvation.

The IPC found that famine prevailed in three camps in North Darfur, including Zamzam, where famine had already been declared in August, as well as among residents and displaced communities in the Nuba Mountains in the Kordofan region. , to the south.

Between December and May, the IPC said 24.6 million people, or about half of Sudan’s population, were expected to face “high levels of acute food insecurity.”

The report says this “marks an unprecedented worsening and widening of the food and nutrition crisis.”

According to the UN World Food Program (WFP), some areas of “intense conflict”, including parts of the capital Khartoum and the central state of Al-Jazeera, “may already be experiencing famine conditions”, but a lack of access to data prevented an official classification.