Sudan’s El Obeid Faces New Hunger Emergency as Aid Stocks Near Depletion
The World Food Programme warned on July 17 that El Obeid, the capital of Sudan’s North Kordofan state, is becoming a new center of the country’s displacement and hunger crisis. WFP said specialized nutrition supplies could begin running out in August, food stocks could be severely depleted in September and fully exhausted in October under current planning assumptions.
Those dates are projections, not fixed outcomes. The agency said the outlook depends on additional funding, safe humanitarian access and whether fighting continues to disrupt roads, markets and aid deliveries.
A city absorbing a new wave of displacement
El Obeid is receiving displaced people from South and West Kordofan, North Kordofan and Darfur. WFP said the number of displaced people in the area may be roughly twice the city’s prewar population, an estimate based on local reporting and agency observations rather than a definitive population count.
More than 120,000 people are in the Unified Internally Displaced Persons Camp, according to WFP’s Sudan country director. Others are staying with host families or in makeshift shelters. WFP said camps are overcrowded and new families are arriving, increasing pressure on food, water, health services and transport.
Food, fuel and water shortages are converging
WFP said it is assisting just over 100,000 people in El Obeid, but severe funding shortages mean recipients are generally receiving about 50 percent rations. Fuel shortages have disrupted commercial transport, forcing WFP to use its own trucks to move food from warehouses to distribution points.
Regular power outages are also disrupting water supplies. WFP reported more than 30 new cholera cases, adding a disease risk to an already severe food and displacement emergency.
Nearly 400,000 people across Sheikan district, which includes El Obeid, and neighboring Bara and Gharb Bara districts are experiencing IPC Phase 4, or Emergency, food insecurity, WFP said. That classification means people face serious food-consumption gaps and need urgent assistance.
In June, active conflict prevented WFP from delivering lifesaving assistance to an estimated 200,000 people. The disruption shows how insecurity and shortages of money, fuel and transport capacity can compound one another: food may be available in warehouses but still fail to reach families.
The aid clock is moving closer
WFP said specialized food used to prevent and treat malnutrition could begin running out in August. The agency projected that broader food stocks would be severely depleted by September and fully exhausted in October if current plans, funding and access conditions do not change.
Children and pregnant or breastfeeding women face particular risks when specialized nutrition supplies are interrupted. WFP is seeking $646 million for operations from June through November 2026 to reach a planned 8.5 million people with lifesaving assistance and support to rebuild food production.
WFP also said supplies intended for a possible El Obeid response have been redirected from stocks originally planned for rainy-season prepositioning. If that diversion continues, communities elsewhere could receive less support than originally planned.
El Obeid is part of a wider national crisis
A May 15 assessment from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, summarized in a joint release by WFP, the Food and Agriculture Organization and UNICEF, found that nearly 19.5 million people in Sudan were facing crisis-level acute food insecurity, defined as IPC Phase 3 or above.
The assessment did not identify areas currently experiencing famine. It said about 135,000 people were facing catastrophic IPC Phase 5 food insecurity across 14 hotspots, while 14 areas in Darfur and South Kordofan were at risk of famine in the coming months. The assessment also projected that about 825,000 children under 5 could suffer severe acute malnutrition in 2026.
Those figures are national context from May, not a new August assessment. They help show why deterioration in El Obeid matters beyond the city: a major displacement hub can draw on the same limited food stocks, transport capacity and humanitarian funding needed elsewhere.
What to watch next
The next measurable indicators are whether WFP secures additional funding, whether humanitarian access improves and whether food and specialized nutrition supplies reach El Obeid before the projected depletion periods. Deliveries during Sudan’s rainy season will also test roads, storage and transport links.
WFP’s warning does not establish that shortages will occur exactly in August, September or October. It does show that El Obeid’s food emergency is approaching a conditional supply cliff shaped by funding, access and conflict. Without more resources and safer routes, the city could face deeper ration cuts while aid agencies balance its needs against those of other communities across Sudan.
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