The ghost of El Fasher haunts El Obeid…a financing gap threatens the lives of 20 million hungry people in Sudan policy

In a chronological and military sequence similar to the scenario of the city of El Fasher falling under the control of the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, United Nations officials warn against repeating the scene of El Fasher in the city of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan.

In this context, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, issued a warning about what he called the escalation of violence and the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in North Kordofan State, Sudan.

He added – in his account on the

During his intervention on Al Jazeera, the Acting Executive Director of the World Food Program, Carl Skau, expressed his concern about the dangerous humanitarian conditions in El Obeid due to the deterioration and disruption of basic services, such as electricity and water, in addition to the deterioration of food security, especially since the city includes tens of thousands of civilians.

Skaw spoke about the urgent humanitarian situation that Al-Obeid is suffering from, in light of the challenges facing the organization in bringing relief supplies into Al-Obeid.

He pointed out that entering the city requires passing through only one road, which makes it difficult to bring in the largest amount of food, explaining that aid has reached nearly 100,000 people so far, in addition to the organization’s endeavor to support 250,000 civilians.

The matter has become more than the access crisis and is also linked to the lack of funding, according to Skaw, pointing out that the lack of funding for the World Food Program reduced the number of aid that the organization was providing. Instead of helping 8 million, it was only able to deliver food and relief materials to 5 million people.

This is in addition to the 20 million Sudanese living in hunger hotspots, to whom relief organizations are unable to deliver aid and food, and who suffer from a severe food crisis, in addition to 10 million displaced people, including children suffering from malnutrition, according to Sakao.

Referring to the consequences of the lack of funding on aid, Skaw said that the food that the organization provided to families was sufficient for a month, but is now only sufficient for a few weeks.

Field escalation

The city of El-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State in western Sudan, witnessed a remarkable field escalation during the first half of 2026, with the expansion of the scope of drone attacks and bombing by the Rapid Support Forces, affecting health, educational and service facilities, residential areas and camps for the displaced.

Al-Abyad monopolizes 80% of the total production of gum arabic in the world, which is used in all food and pharmaceutical industries. The city’s importance is not limited to this aspect, but it is considered the capital of Greater Kordofan and the border between East and West, according to Al-Wasat newspaper editor-in-chief Fathi Abu Ammar, who previously spoke to Al-Jazeera.

In a simple comparison between the fall of El Fasher and what is happening in El Obeid now, Abu Ammar links them to the fact that the fall of El Fasher occurred after a series of atrocities committed by the Rapid Support since the beginning of the war that broke out in April 2023, similar to those currently occurring in El Obeid.

Abu Ammar believes that the Rapid Support Forces will not give up the siege of Al-Obeid because of their ability to circumvent and block roads, in addition to the absence of a peace horizon and the rigidity of the army’s position, citing the words of the head of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, who stipulated that his opponent surrender and lay down arms.

It seems that the situation in Al-Obeid is deteriorating day by day, politically and humanitarianly. The open sources unit on the island monitored the targeting of 16 civilian and service sites with marches and aerial bombardment between January and June 2026, which included health and educational facilities and camps for the displaced.

While analysts believe that the Rapid Support Forces will not give up the siege of the city, other points of view point to security threats related to aerial and artillery bombardment, despite the fact that some roads (such as the Kosti-Tandalti road) remain partially open to the movement of civilians, according to writer and political analyst Abdel Majid Abdel Hamid.

Abdel Hamid is certain that El-Obeid will not be another El-Fasher “one word,” because El-Fasher fell due to the stifling siege and hunger, while El-Obeid’s roads are completely open from Kosti and Tandelti, and the citizens are carrying out their lives in safety.