Sudan drops out of hunger-monitor system on eve of famine report | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Sunday
June 15, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
SUNDAY, JUNE 15, 2025
Sudan drops out of hunger-monitor system on eve of famine report

Africa

Reuters
24 December, 2024, 11:10 am
Last modified: 24 December, 2024, 11:13 am

Related News

  • Egypt's crackdown drives Sudanese refugees on new route to Libya and beyond
  • Sudan is world's 'worst humanitarian catastrophe': British FM
  • World court dismisses Sudan's genocide case against UAE over alleged Darfur interference
  • Drone strikes pound Port Sudan, putting aid deliveries at risk
  • At least 542 killed in Sudan's North Darfur in past three weeks: UN rights chief

Sudan drops out of hunger-monitor system on eve of famine report

Sudan’s withdrawal from the IPC system could undermine humanitarian efforts to help millions of Sudanese suffering from extreme hunger, said the leader of a non-governmental organization operating there, speaking on condition of anonymity

Reuters
24 December, 2024, 11:10 am
Last modified: 24 December, 2024, 11:13 am
Sudanese people, who fled the conflict in Murnei in Sudan's Darfur region, cross the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo
Sudanese people, who fled the conflict in Murnei in Sudan's Darfur region, cross the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad August 4, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra/File Photo

The Sudanese government has suspended its participation in the global hunger-monitoring system on the eve of a report that's expected to show famine spreading across the country, a step likely to undercut efforts to address one of the world's largest hunger crises.

In a letter dated Dec. 23, the government's agriculture minister said the government is halting its participation in the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system. The letter accused the IPC of "issuing unreliable reports that undermine Sudan's sovereignty and dignity."

On Tuesday, the IPC is expected to publish a report finding that famine has spread to five areas in Sudan and could expand to 10 by May, according to a briefing document seen by Reuters. "This marks an unprecedented deepening and widening of the food and nutrition crisis, driven by the devastating conflict and poor humanitarian access," the document stated.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

A spokesperson for the Rome-based IPC declined to comment.

Sudan's withdrawal from the IPC system could undermine humanitarian efforts to help millions of Sudanese suffering from extreme hunger, said the leader of a non-governmental organization operating there, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"Withdrawal from the IPC system won't change the reality of hunger on the ground," the NGO source said. "But it does deprive the international community of its compass to navigate Sudan's hunger crisis. Without independent analysis, we're flying blind into this storm of food insecurity."

A diplomat with Sudan's mission to the United Nations in New York didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the move to cut off the IPC.

The IPC is an independent body funded by Western nations and overseen by 19 large humanitarian organizations and intergovernmental institutions. A linchpin in the world's vast system for monitoring and alleviating hunger, it is designed to sound the alarm about developing food crises so organizations can respond and prevent famine and mass starvation.

IPC analysts typically partner with national governments to analyze data related to food insecurity and to report on conditions within a country's borders. The government has headed the IPC's analysis group in Sudan. But the system has increasingly struggled to function since civil war erupted in April 2023. The fighting between the army-backed government and its foe, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary, has disrupted data collection in areas held by both sides.

A recent Reuters investigation found that the Sudanese government obstructed the IPC's work earlier this year, delaying by months a famine determination for the sprawling Zamzam camp for internally displaced people where some have resorted to eating tree leaves to survive.

Monday's letter was addressed to the IPC and its Famine Review Committee, which vets and verifies a famine finding, as well as to diplomats. It says the forthcoming IPC report lacks updated malnutrition data and assessments of crop productivity during the recent summer rainy season. The growing season was successful, the letter says. It also notes "serious concerns" about the IPC's ability to collect data from territories controlled by the RSF.

The IPC's struggles go beyond Sudan. In a series of reports this year, Reuters has reported that authorities in Myanmar and Yemen have also tried to thwart the global hunger-monitoring process by blocking or falsifying the flow of data to the IPC or suppressing its findings.

In Myanmar, the IPC recently scrubbed from its website its assessment on hunger there, fearing for the safety of researchers. Reuters recently reported that representatives of the country's ruling military junta have warned aid workers against releasing data and analysis showing that millions in Myanmar are experiencing serious hunger.

In Ethiopia, the government disliked an IPC finding in 2021 that 350,000 people were experiencing catastrophic acute food insecurity – so it stopped working with the IPC.

Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at Tufts University's Fletcher School, called Sudan's move to stop cooperating with the IPC "both pathetic and tragic."

"It's part of a long history of the government of Sudan denying famine going back more than 40 years," said de Waal, a leading specialist on famine. "Whenever there's a famine in Sudan, they consider it an affront to their sovereignty, and they're more concerned about their pride and their control than they are over the lives of their citizens."

Top News / World+Biz

Sudan / Famine / Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Fire of Israeli attack on Sharan Oil depot is seen following the Israeli strikes on Iran, in Tehran, Iran, June 15, 2025. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
    Israel and Iran strike at each other as Trump says conflict can be easily ended
  • AMM Nasir Uddin. File photo: Collected.
    EC moving forward with polls preparations, committed to ensuring level playing field: CEC
  • Photo shows a group of non-government teacher aspirants maintaining their position before a police barricade in front of the Press Club in Dhaka on Sunday, 15 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    Police charge batons, lob sound grenades as non-govt teacher aspirants march to Secretariat

MOST VIEWED

  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • Fighter jet. Photo: AFP
    3 F-35 fighter jets downed, two Israeli pilots in custody, claims Iranian media
  • Infographic: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Vehicles were seen stuck on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway due to a traffic jam stretching 15 kilometres on 14 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    15km traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway as post-Eid rush continues
  • Ahsan H Mansur. TBS sketch
    BB governor meets global litigation funders to mobilise $100m for tracing stolen assets
  • Burnt out cars and damaged buildings are all that’s left of this street in Ramat Gan Credit: AP
    Iran threatens to strike US, UK, and French bases if they help defend Israel

Related News

  • Egypt's crackdown drives Sudanese refugees on new route to Libya and beyond
  • Sudan is world's 'worst humanitarian catastrophe': British FM
  • World court dismisses Sudan's genocide case against UAE over alleged Darfur interference
  • Drone strikes pound Port Sudan, putting aid deliveries at risk
  • At least 542 killed in Sudan's North Darfur in past three weeks: UN rights chief

Features

Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

1d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

3d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

4d | Features
File photo of Eid holidaymakers returning to the capital from their country homes/Rajib Dhar

Dhaka: The city we never want to return to, but always do

6d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Ishraque seeks chief adviser's intervention for oath as Dhaka South mayor

Ishraque seeks chief adviser's intervention for oath as Dhaka South mayor

1h | TBS Today
Israel asked US to join military campaign against Iran, but US rejects request

Israel asked US to join military campaign against Iran, but US rejects request

1h | TBS World
Iran-Israel direct confrontation; war looms in the Middle East

Iran-Israel direct confrontation; war looms in the Middle East

3h | TBS World
Israel-Iran conflict: Which way is the global economy turning?

Israel-Iran conflict: Which way is the global economy turning?

5h | TBS World
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net