When Marasi Alfadil arrived in Omdurman with her children, there was almost nothing waiting for them. The family eventually found a half-finished building inside a compound to live in, with no proper walls, no services, and little food. But for Marasi, it is still safer than the city she fled.
Six months ago, she escaped el-Fasher in North Darfur, just days before fighters from the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group took full control after an 18-month siege. Thousands of people were killed during the RSF takeover, which a United Nations investigation found bore the “hallmarks of genocide.”
“The siege made life hard,” she told Al Jazeera. “Goods could not come in. Anyone who tried to bring food was detained or killed.”
Hundreds of thousands of people still remain in el-Fasher, where food shortages and violence continue under RSF control. This has created a hunger crisis so severe that the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification declared a famine in November.
Similar conditions have also been reported in Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan State, while at least 20 other areas across Darfur and Kordofan are at risk of famine.
The 2026 Global Report on Food Crises, released by the EU-funded Global Network Against Food Crises, said conflict in Darfur and Kordofan has severely constrained humanitarian access with “devastating effects on food security.” By September, about 375,000 people were in the most extreme level of hunger.
Marasi is not alone in seeking refuge in Omdurman. In the same compound lives Taqwa, who fled Heglig in West Kordofan after fighting between the SAF and the RSF. She arrived with twins who were just three weeks old. “Feeding two infants is hard. I don’t have money to buy meat or flour to make porridge,” Taqwa said.
By the end of 2025, almost 12 million people were displaced, making Sudan home to the world’s largest internal displacement crisis. The UN estimated nearly 25 million people – more than half of Sudan’s population – were facing crisis levels of food shortages or worse.
Aid agencies have reported ongoing funding shortages while violence continues to block access to many regions. “There’s very little aid here,” Taqwa said, “so we suffer.”
Source: www.aljazeera.com