Almost 20 million people in Sudan still face acute hunger, monitors say

Some 19.5 million Sudanese people, or more than 40% of the population, ‌are facing acute hunger, according to a report by a global hunger monitor, Reuters reported.

The spread of hunger and famine has become a hallmark of the three-year-old ​war in Sudan, which is estimated to have killed hundreds of thousands of people as well ​as devastating the economy and agriculture and displacing 14 million.

The estimate by the ⁠U.N.-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) is slightly lower than last fall's of 21.2 million people, but ​some 14 areas in the country's North Darfur, South Darfur, and South Kordofan states remain at risk of ​famine, where 135,000 people face "catastrophic" levels of hunger.

"Ongoing hostilities - especially around major supply routes, such as El Obeid in North Kordofan - and the possibility ​of renewed siege‑like conditions continue ​to heighten risks," the ⁠IPC said in a statement.