Sudan's 1888-89 famine echoes in war-driven hunger crisis

September 22, 2026 at 10:45 PM2 min

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Sudan's war between the army and the Rapid Support Forces has triggered famines in 2024 and 2025, the first man-made famines in the country's modern history. Historians and activists say the current crisis echoes the 1888-89 famine that killed more than one million people under Khalifa Abdullahi al-Taashi. The war has disrupted farming and aid delivery, deepening hunger across the country.

Key Facts

The war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023 and has triggered famines in Sudan in 2024 and 2025.
The famine of 1888–1889, during the rule of Khalifa Abdullahi al-Taashi, killed more than one million people according to historical estimates.
The 1984 drought in western Sudan, including Darfur and Kordofan, displaced hundreds of thousands of people to Khartoum.
The earliest recorded major food crisis in what is now Sudan occurred in 1684 during the Funj Sultanate, lasting several years.

Historical Famines

One of the earliest recorded major food crises in what is now Sudan occurred in 1684 during the Funj Sultanate, bringing severe grain shortages across central Sudan. Historical accounts describe people driven to desperation, some forced to eat dog meat, and the hunger triggered mass displacement and a deadly smallpox outbreak. Similar climate-driven crises were recorded in 1750 and between 1835 and 1838 during Ottoman-Egyptian rule, exacerbated by severe drought and low water levels in the River Nile. The famine most deeply embedded in Sudanese popular memory occurred between 1888 and 1889, when drought, locust infestations, and conflict combined to cause widespread hunger and death. Some families shut themselves inside their homes to die rather than go out to beg for food, according to reports from that period.

Man-Made Crisis

Unlike many historical crises, the current famine is distinctly man-made, driven by the war between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces that erupted in April 2023. The war has disrupted agricultural production and trade, forced farmers to leave their land, and made it difficult to move food and humanitarian aid across the country. Conditions have deteriorated sharply since 2024, with the conflict plunging Sudan into one of its worst modern food crises.