STORY: The people of Sudan are at "imminent risk of famine" United Nations agencies said on Friday.
More than a year into a war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) around 18 million people are already hungry.
That includes 3.6 million children who are acutely malnourished, according to a joint statement by U.N. chiefs.
:: OCHA spokesperson, Jens Laerke.
"Time is running out for millions of people, including 3.6 million acutely malnourished children who are at risk of famine, and they are displaced from their lands, living under bombardments and cut off from humanitarian aid"
In April 2023, fighting broke out in the capital Khartoum and quickly spread across the country.
It reignited ethnic bloodshed in the western Darfur region and forced millions to flee in the world's largest displacement crisis.
And according to a U.N. special adviser, there is a risk of genocide in parts of Darfur.
"Nineteen global humanitarian organizations, including 12 UN agencies, today warned that if they continue to be prevented from providing aid in Sudan, rapidly and at scale, a famine will likely take hold in large parts of the country, more people will flee to neighboring countries, children will succumb to disease and malnutrition, and women and girls will face even greater suffering and dangers."
The war broke out as long-simmering tensions over integrating the RSF with the army came to a head.
A U.N.-backed report said in March that immediate action was needed to "prevent widespread death and total collapse of livelihoods"
