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Wars without ceasefires now drive mass famine from Sudan to South Sudan
Sudan and South Sudan top the global risk list as the two most severe compound crises. Sudan's army-RSF war continues with the siege of El Obeid and famine used as a weapon; roughly 33.7 million people need aid and the currency has collapsed. South Sudan's civil war is escalating: government airstrikes hit Lankien hospital and Akobo, civilian deaths rose sharply in early 2026, and around 7.8 million people face crisis-level hunger. Yemen reports fresh mass displacement from fighting in Ta'iz, and Gaza's hospital evacuations show a fragile ceasefire under continued strain.
The pattern is famine by war, not weather: governments and armed groups besiege cities, strike hospitals, and block aid, while global food prices stay elevated. Aid delivery has not recovered to pre-war levels, and the dismantling of USAID removes a major funder. The Iran war's chokehold on Hormuz shipping, the Red Sea pause, and droughts from Central America to Europe compound import-dependent food crises in Yemen, Somalia, and East Africa. Lebanon's paper ceasefire, Myanmar's monsoon floods, and Haiti's record 1.5 million displaced add pressure.
Watch items
- Sudan — RSF siege of El Obeid and starvation tactics
- Yemen — Ta'iz fighting displacing civilians amid 18.3M hungry
- Nepal — Red flood alert; trapped tunnel workers