The abrupt freeze of U.S. humanitarian aid has forced the closure of nearly 80% of Sudan’s emergency food kitchens, leaving almost two million people on the verge of starvation by Sudan’s civil war. Aid volunteers said the impact of President Donald Trump’s executive order halting contributions from the U.S. government’s development organization (USAID) for 90 days meant more than 1,100 communal kitchens had shut; it is estimated that nearly two million people are struggling to survive.
Sudan’s lifeline severed: U.S.aid cut push millions toward starvation
The conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands of people, forced millions from their homes and left many facing famine since it started in April 2023. The kitchens are run by emergency response rooms, a grassroots network of activists who stay on the front lines to respond to crises in their neighborhoods.
“People are knocking on the volunteers ‘ doors, and People are screaming from hunger in the streets”, says Duaa Tariq, one of the emergency room organizers.
The Trump administration unexpectedly suspended all U.S. aid last month to determine whether it was “serving US interests” and moved to begin dismantling USAID. The State Department has issued an exemption for emergency food assistance.
Still, Sudanese groups and others said there was significant confusion and uncertainty about what that meant in practice.
‘’The usual channels for processing a waiver through USAID no longer exist, and it is unclear if cash assistance, which the communal kitchens depend on, will be restored or only goods in kind’’.
According to some estimates, USAID provided 70-80% of the total funding to these flexible cash programs. The closure of the majority of Sudan’s emergency kitchens is being seen as a significant setback by organizations working to tackle the world’s largest hunger crisis, with famine conditions reported in at least five locations.
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The network of communal feeding centers relied on community and diaspora donations in the early stages of the country’s civil war. It later became a focal point for funding from international agencies, including USAID, which was struggling to access the conflict zones.
Andrea Tracy, a former USAID official who’s set up a fund, the Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition, for private donations to the emergency rooms, said it’s a huge setback. Samantha Power, the former head of USAID, embraced working with local groups rather than relying only on traditional channels like the UN.
Money had started to flow through international aid organizations that got U.S. grants. Still, a channel for direct funding was in the works.
“It was ground-breaking; the only time that USAID had ever done this was with the White Helmets (humanitarian group) in Syria,” said Ms Tracy
The ripple effect of America’s decision
For Ms Tariq, the cut in U.S. funding made it impossible to buy stock for the more than 25 kitchens in the six neighbourhoods in the capital, Khartoum; she helps to service. She said that it left them unprepared for a worsening situation as the army advanced on the area, which the RSF has held since the conflict broke out.
As the RSF began withdrawing and the army tightened its siege, markets were looted widely. She mentioned that most kitchens have closed, and some are trying to get food on credit from local fishermen and farmers. Still, they expect to see many people starving soon in the rest of the country.
Ms Tracy’s Mutual Aid Sudan Coalition fund will work to fill the gap left by USAID. According to her, they can shore up the emergency kitchens, and private donations will have to do even more now because even if humanitarian assistance resumes, it will never be what it was.
A former USAID partner organization member said that the volunteers were challenging them to work differently, and they were responding. She reports their exhaustion, traumas, and underfunding; according to her, they are scaling up to help them.
The State Department did not answer specific questions about waivers for Sudan, saying that information was shared directly with groups whose applications were successful. It continued that the aid review process is not about ending foreign aid but restructuring assistance to ensure it makes the United States safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has received waivers for its 13 existing Sudanese grants with USAID. Still, there is no certainty about what will happen with future funding, saying that would have been under negotiation anyway, but now the talks will occur under changed circumstances.
In 2024, the United States was the largest single donor to Sudan in direct donations and contributions to the UN’s Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan. Top UN officials reported that the impact of Washington’s policy shift would be felt beyond Sudan’s borders, with more than two million civilians now refugees in neighboring countries.
Rania Dagesh, the WFP’s assistant executive director for partnerships and innovation, said she witnessed people who had fled conflict but not hunger after visiting camps in Renk and Malakal, South Sudan, earlier this month. She said the influx of refugees has only strained the meagre resources available.
Mamadou Dian Balde, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees’ regional bureau director, said they have rationalized repeatedly and that he has visited refugee camps in Chad and Egypt; he reports that they are strained and horrors and hunger in rare visits to Darfur massacre town were heard. Most of the refugees are women, children and some older adults, and it is said that most of the non-disabled men were either killed or simply disappeared, so they fled to save themselves and the children, leaving them with nothing and facing hunger in the camps.
Some in South Sudan tried to sell firewood but were exposed to harassment, violence, and rape, said Ms Dagesh. She said many of the refugees she met came from Sudan’s agricultural areas, and the war has disrupted their lives and livelihoods.
According to her, they would want to see peace restored so they can go back home, but the fighting has been raging for close to two years now with no end in sight.
A policy shift with devastating consequences
Without a ceasefire, the hunger situation in Sudan is deteriorating. Closing the kitchens supplying emergency meals will only increase the number of people fleeing across borders, straining aid agencies that generally would help. The UNHCR says it has been forced to rationalize to levels where its interventions are minimal, at the minimum, and the agency was already underfunded.
The UNHCR’s call for donor contributions last year yielded only 30% of the anticipated amount, forcing their teams to cut “everything,” including the number of meals and water refugees could receive. The U.S. has been the UNHCR’s primary funder, but last month’s announcement of the aid freeze and subsequent waiver has put things in limbo.
Mr Balde said they were still assessing and working with partners to determine how this affected their needs. He continued that, faced with impossible choices, some refugees are already seeking refuge in third countries, including the Gulf, Europe, and beyond, describing it as embarking on “perilous journeys.”
The Trump administration’s aid cuts are a perfect storm of devastation, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. From Sudan, where hunger crisis worsens, to Nigeria and other developing countries, where HIV funding cuts cripple the fight against the epidemic, and to Catholic charities facing frozen financing amid an immigration crackdown, the impact is clear: the most vulnerable populations are being left out in the cold.