UN warns of famine risk in Sudan’s Dilling amid attacks on aid convoys

KHARTOUM, Sudan

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned Tuesday of a looming famine risk in the city of Dilling in southern Sudan amid attacks on aid convoys by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

“Needs in Kadugli and Dilling have reached catastrophic levels,” the UN office said in a statement.

It noted that the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) on Monday classified Kadugli as “being in famine,” warning that similar circumstances could unfold in Dilling.

The IPC, established in 2004 by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), was initially developed to assess food security conditions in Somalia.

It aims to guide accurate and effective decision-making in food crises and is implemented globally through cooperation among UN agencies, international organizations and development and humanitarian bodies.

OCHA stressed that “rapid, safe, unhindered and sustained access to both locations and across the broader Kordofan region is critical.”

It also said that medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) treated about 170 patients with injuries linked to drone attacks during the first half of February.

The UN office renewed its call for the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure, calling on parties to the conflict “to adhere to their obligations under international humanitarian law.”

Last week, the Sudan Doctors Network, a local medical group, said three people were killed and four aid workers injured when an RSF drone targeted a humanitarian convoy in South Kordofan.

Sudanese authorities and human rights groups have accused the RSF of targeting civilian facilities, allegations the paramilitary group has not publicly addressed, while saying it is working “to protect civilians.”

In recent weeks, the Sudanese army said it broke a more than two-year siege imposed by the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North on Dilling and Kadugli.

Since October 2025, Sudan’s three Kordofan states -- North, West and South -- have witnessed intense fighting between the army and the RSF.

The conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023, has killed tens of thousands and displaced about 13 million people, creating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and famine conditions, according to UN reports.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul