United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged an immediate end to the war in Sudan on Tuesday, saying a conflict fought for power and fuelled by external actors has become a war against the civilian population. "The fighting must cease," he said in a message posted on social media, adding that civilians must be protected and humanitarian aid must reach those in need without obstacles. His words came a year after El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, came under RSF control after an 18-month siege.

Source: Democrata (EFE reporting), Guterres urges to stop the war in Sudan and warns of famine, Oct 27 2026

Guterres also insisted that Sudan's unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity must be preserved, and that the country's future must be forged by the Sudanese people through an inclusive political process, Shafaqna English reported, summarising the same social-media message.

Source: Shafaqna English, UN chief: Struggle in Sudan turned into war against civilians, Oct 27 2026

Nearly 30 countries warn famine risk requires urgent action

In parallel, nearly 30 countries including Spain and the United States warned of the alarming deterioration of food security in Sudan and said the risk of famine in the coming months, as warned by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, requires urgent action. Around 19.5 million people (yaani about 1.95 crore), 41 per cent of the population, are suffering high levels of acute food insecurity, including five million (yaani 50 lakh) in emergency situations, the governments said in a joint statement released through the US Department of State. Without immediate action, the number of children suffering severe acute malnutrition could exceed the projected figure of 825,000 (yaani 8.25 lakh), and the number of food-insecure areas, initially estimated at fourteen, is expected to double, they warned.

The signatories said the conflict is the main driver of Sudan's hunger crisis — displacing millions, damaging critical infrastructure and interrupting health services, food production, supply chains and markets — alongside what they called the systematic obstruction of aid and the impact of El Nino. They demanded that the army and the RSF remove all obstacles to humanitarian assistance, allow full, safe, rapid and unhindered access through all routes including air access to Darfur, and stop attacks on civilian infrastructure including agricultural and food systems.

Khartoum rejects the warnings

Sudan's Foreign Ministry rejected the criticism, defending the food situation as stable and saying strategic reserves and ongoing agricultural activity are sufficient to meet the nation's food needs, in a statement released on social media and reported by Democrata. The ministry accused certain states and organisations of politicising the humanitarian situation to promote a humanitarian truce which army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has already rejected, arguing such a truce would in its view rescue the RSF from defeats and let it rearm. Those are the ministry's claims, reported here as its position, not as verified fact.

Sudan's civil war broke out in April 2023 over the integration of the RSF into the armed forces, derailing the transition that followed the 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir. The conflict has since plunged the country into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with millions displaced and essential infrastructure destroyed, Democrata reported.