HUMANITARIAN groups have warned that millions in Sudan face starvation following US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze critical aid.

In 2024 the United States was the largest single donor to Sudan, providing both direct donations and contributions to the UN’s Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan.

But the Trump administration’s executive order halting United States Agency for International Development (USAid) contributions for 90 days has forced the closure of nearly 80 per cent of emergency food kitchens, the BBC reported yesterday.

Aid volunteers said that the impact of the executive order has shut down more than 1,100 communal kitchens, leaving nearly two million people without access to desperately needed meals.

The ongoing conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, displaced millions and pushed many into famine since erupting in April 2023.

Communal kitchens, run by grassroots emergency response rooms, had been a lifeline for starving communities.

But as their funding dries up, volunteers say they are overwhelmed.

“People are knocking on the volunteers’ doors,” says Duaa Tariq, one of the organisers.

“People are screaming from hunger in the streets.”

The Trump administration claims the aid review is meant to ensure US assistance “serves national interests” and moved to begin dismantling USAid.

The State Department has issued an exemption for emergency food assistance, but groups say it is not clear what that means in practice.

The normal waiver process through USAid no longer exists and aid groups fear that even if some assistance resumes, it will not reach previous levels.

Before the freeze, USAid contributed an estimated 70-80 per cent of funding to these flexible cash initiatives.

Ms Tariq, who oversees 25 kitchens in six neighbourhoods of the capital Khartoum, said that the funding cuts have left them unprepared as fighting intensifies.

RSF forces have begun withdrawing from some areas as the army tightens its siege, triggering widespread looting and further straining food supplies.

Most of the kitchens have closed, she said, saying that some are trying to get food on credit from local fishermen and farmers, but very soon “we expect to see a lot of people starving.”

On Monday, Doctors Without Borders announced it was suspending operations at Zamzam camp in North Darfur due to escalating violence.

In a statement, the MSF said fighting had made it “impossible to continue providing medical assistance.”