Today, the UN Security Council held a briefing on acute food insecurity in Sudan, at the request of Slovenia and others. The meeting focused on the latest IPC report of December 2024, showing that half of the population analyzed – or 24.6 million people – are facing acute food insecurity levels, with detected famine in at least five areas. Assuming the role of informal focal point of the Security Council on hunger and conflict in 2025 alongside Guyana, Slovenia will strengthen its efforts to protect civilians and address conflict-induced food insecurity and famine.

Since April 2023, Sudan remains in the grip of a fast accelerating man-made crisis that continues to have a devastating impact on civilians, leaving millions displaced and hungry with famine conditions spreading. “Today, 15.9 million people are in IPC 3 – Crisis; 8.1 million in IPC 4 – Emergency; and just over 637,000 in IPC 5 – Catastrophe,” FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol underscored.

Despite countless warnings by the humanitarian community, the crisis has escalated into one of the largest humanitarian catastrophes of our time. “Even during the harvest season, when food should be abundant, millions in Sudan are starving. This should be the moment when we collectively say no more,” Ambassador Samuel Žbogar emphasized. The primary drivers of the crisis remain war and forced displacement, exacerbated by restricted humanitarian access.

Slovenia called for safe, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access, and stressed that aid must reach those in need, regardless of their location. Violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law, including the unlawful denial of aid and the use of starvation as a weapon of war, must cease immediately.

Furthermore, only diplomacy can lead to lasting peace in Sudan and there is no military solution to this conflict. “We call for an immediate halt to hostilities,” Ambassador Žbogar underlined while paying tribute to all aid workers who risk their lives to help others. He strongly condemned the recent tragic killings of World Food Programme personnel in Sudan.

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