New York - The scale of hunger across Sudan is "deeply concerning" and requires an "immediate cessation of hostilities" as an essential first step in eliminating the risk of famine, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Maurizio Martina today told a United Nations Security Council High-Level Open Debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

After nearly 11 months of civil war, almost 18 million people in Sudan are facing acute food insecurity. This is the highest number ever recorded during a harvest season.

The latest IPC report shows that areas where the conflict has been more intense, including West Darfur, Khartoum, and South Kordofan, are those with populations facing the highest food insecurity (IPC Phase 3 or above).

Without urgent humanitarian assistance and access to basic commodities, people experiencing emergency levels of acute hunger or Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 4 - of which there are almost 5 million people - could slip into catastrophic food insecurity in the coming months.