British anthropologist Alex de Waal has warned that the deadly weapon of starvation has re-emerged as a brutal tool of war against civilians, turning food—the most basic necessity of life—into an instrument of humiliation and a “silent weapon of genocide.”
In an extensive article published in Foreign Affairs, de Waal wrote that this grim phenomenon is unfolding not only in one location but across multiple conflict zones—from Sudan and Gaza to Yemen, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and Syria—where hunger has become a deliberate outcome of war and politics rather than a natural disaster.
He noted that major world powers have done little to stop these conflicts, distracted by shifting geopolitical rivalries and domestic economic challenges, while humanitarian aid budgets in wealthy nations have been drastically cut.
“The result,” he wrote, “is that warring parties are now more capable of inflicting mass starvation on vulnerable populations without fear of accountability.”
Drawing on data from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) initiative of the United Nations and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), de Waal described Sudan as “the world’s largest and most complex hunger crisis.”
According to the latest IPC estimates cited in his article, about 800,000 Sudanese are currently suffering from full-scale famine, while 8 million others are in “emergency” level 4 food insecurity—just one step away from famine.
Below that level, roughly 22 million people—nearly half the country’s population— are experiencing “crisis” level 3 food insecurity, meaning they depend on aid to avoid catastrophic hunger and misery.
De Waal attributes Sudan’s hunger crisis to the prolonged war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, noting that over two million people in Darfur were already living in camps and reliant on the World Food Programme even before the current war erupted.
Experts, including de Waal, warn that without urgent action to ensure safe and rapid humanitarian access—and to hold those who weaponize hunger accountable—tens of thousands could die in the coming months.
