KHARTOUM – An estimated 900,000 vulnerable people in Sudan have lost World Food Programme assistance in recent months as funding shortages force the agency to scale back operations amid worsening hunger and continued fighting.

WFP Executive Director Luke J. Lindberg warned after completing his first field mission to Sudan that humanitarian assistance could not compensate for the continuing conflict.

“We cannot outfeed the war,” Lindberg said, calling for an urgent end to the fighting.

WFP was assisting more than four million people in August, including about 880,000 living in areas at risk of famine.

Funding constraints forced the agency to begin reducing its caseload in September, leaving about 900,000 people without food assistance over the following months.

The agency is now reaching just over three million people across Sudan.

$520 Million Funding Gap

WFP said it urgently needs $520 million to provide food and nutrition assistance to 5.4 million people through April 2027.

Fighting and displacement remain the main drivers of hunger, while rising food and fuel prices have made basic staples increasingly unaffordable for millions of families.

Damaged, blocked and washed-out roads, combined with insecurity, are also restricting humanitarian access and complicating the delivery of food to communities in need.

Lindberg visited displaced families and emergency feeding sites during his mission and met Sudanese officials at local, state and federal levels.

He also visited a WFP-supported school meals programme.

The WFP chief said people facing acute hunger were increasingly confronted with choices between displacement, desperation and starvation as the war continues.

Sudan has become one of the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crises since fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023.

Food insecurity has worsened as conflict disrupts agricultural production, markets and supply routes while humanitarian agencies struggle with severe funding shortages.

Lindberg said WFP had teams in place and was prepared to expand operations if additional resources became available.

“Peace opens the door to food while conflict opens the door to hunger,” he said.