SUDAN: Gov’t rejects UN-backed famine declaration

The Sudanese government rejected on Sunday a report backed by the United Nations which determined that famine had spread to five areas of the war-torn country.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) review, which UN agencies use, said last week that the war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces had created famine conditions for 638,000 people, with a further 8.1 million on the brink of mass starvation.

The army-aligned government “categorically rejects the IPC’s description of the situation in Sudan as a famine”, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The statement called the report “essentially speculative” and accused the IPC of procedural and transparency failings.

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They said the team did not have access to updated field data and had not consulted with the government’s technical team on the final version before publication.