Sudan fighting rages as nearly 8 million displaced, 18 million face 'acute hunger'

The bloody fighting between rival forces in Sudan continues to rage amid dire humanitarian conditions and as the number of displaced persons approached nearly 8 million since the civil war broke out last year.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) sounded the alarm over the lack of access to life-saving humanitarian assistance by millions of people, saying it had received reports of people dying from starvation.

In a press release published on Friday, WFP warned that the number of hungry in Sudan had doubled over the past year, adding that almost 18 million people across the country now face acute hunger and about 5 million suffer from emergency levels of hunger due to the fighting in some areas, including in Darfur, Khartoum and Kordofan.

“The situation in Sudan today is nothing short of catastrophic. Millions of people are impacted by the conflict,” the statement quoted Eddie Rowe, WFP representative and country director in Sudan, as saying.