Herders move cattle in search of grazing and water in Sudan, March 2021. (Photo: Reem Ahmed Elomarabi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

SUDAN · HUNGER

Yasir Arman, a senior Sudanese political leader, said in a statement published on 12 November 2026 that both sides in Sudan’s war, the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, are covering up what he calls an imminent famine. He also accused international hunger monitors of holding back data that could push the world to act.

Arman is a leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – Revolutionary Democratic Current, a political movement, and he is calling for a humanitarian truce. His claim is unproven: in May 2026 the UN-backed hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), did not classify any area as in Famine, but it listed 14 hotspots as at risk of famine.

What Arman Said

Arman said millions of Sudanese face a real threat to their lives because of economic collapse, destroyed infrastructure, displaced farmers and herders, and a failed farming season in most key areas. He added that attacks on power and water stations and markets, sieges of cities and the lack of safe aid corridors raise the danger.

He said the organisations that give early warnings of famine are silent without justification and are holding back data held by UN agencies and aid groups. Publishing it, he argued, would push governments to press both sides to accept an official famine declaration.

He called for an urgent humanitarian truce, even a temporary one, so food and medicine can reach people. He said Sudan’s people alone are paying the price.

What the Hunger Monitor Has Found

The IPC, short for Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, is the UN-backed system that rates hunger in five phases. Its May 2026 analysis counted nearly 19.5 million people in acute food insecurity, about 40% of the population, and listed 14 hotspots in Darfur, in western Sudan, and in South Kordofan as at risk of famine.

No area was classified Famine in that analysis, Famine being the top of the IPC’s five phases, although the IPC’s Famine Review Committee, its expert panel, confirmed Famine in El Fasher, in Darfur, and Kadugli, in South Kordofan, in November 2025. In February 2026 an IPC alert said child malnutrition had passed the famine threshold in Um Baru and Kernoi in North Darfur, though the IPC stressed that an alert is not a formal Famine classification.

File photo, 2010. A road bridge across the Nile at Khartoum. Photo: Petr Adam Dohnálek, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Why the Warning Is Hard to Test

Arman gave no figures of his own in the statement, and he did not say which data he means. An IPC alert of 12 October 2026 warned that conditions in Darfur and Kordofan were deteriorating, but we found no new formal Famine classification this year.

UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, said on 10 November 2026 that it expects 825,000 children under five to suffer severe acute malnutrition this year. It also said its own Sudan response is just one-third funded.

What Is Not Known

It is not known which data Arman means, or whether any famine finding is waiting to be published. We found no new formal Famine classification in 2026.

Arman’s account comes from a single published statement, and we could not confirm it with a second source. We treat it as his claim, not as established fact.

What It Means for Readers

For readers in the United States, a formal famine declaration could add pressure on donors, including Washington, to fund aid and on both armies to open routes. The funding gap is already visible in UNICEF’s one-third figure.

Read more on the Sudan famine risk warning, Sudan’s fuel shortage and hunger risk and UNICEF’s warning on drones and children.

More: Sudan news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Yasir Arman?

He is a leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – Revolutionary Democratic Current, a Sudanese political movement. He spoke in a statement published on 12 November 2026.

What does Arman claim?

He claims both warring sides are covering up an imminent famine and that hunger monitors are holding back data. We could not confirm either claim.

Is there a famine in Sudan?

The IPC confirmed Famine in El Fasher and Kadugli in November 2025. Its May 2026 analysis classified no area as in Famine but listed 14 hotspots as at risk.

What is the IPC?

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification is a UN-backed system that rates hunger in five phases. At area level the top phase, Phase 5, is Famine; for households it is Catastrophe.

Sources: IPC Sudan analysis of May 2026, as published in UNICEF’s release of 15 May 2026 (UNICEF); IPC alert of 5 February 2026, as reported by UN News, the UN’s own news service; UNICEF Geneva briefing of 10 November 2026 (UNICEF); Arman’s statement of 12 November 2026, published in Arabic by a Sudanese news site.

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