A network of community kitchens in Sudan - a crucial lifeline for millions of people caught up in the civil war - is on the verge of collapse, a report says.
The warning from aid organisation Islamic Relief comes after a UN-backed global hunger monitor confirmed that famine conditions were spreading in conflict zones.
The locally run kitchens have operated in areas that are difficult for international humanitarian groups to access but are facing closure due to neglect, shortages, and volunteer exhaustion.
Sudan's people have been brutalised by more than two years of war after fighting broke out between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
It has created what the UN has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with estimates that more than 24 million people are facing acute food shortages.
Most of the kitchens will close if nothing changes in six months, with maybe one or two surviving in each area, a volunteer quoted by the Islamic Relief report has said.
Financial fragility is the most pressing issue the kitchens face, now funded mainly by the Sudanese diaspora after USAID cuts earlier this year.
There are severe operational challenges, such as the lack of safe water and firewood, and aid agencies report bureaucratic obstacles in delivering supplies.
The situation is dire in besieged regions like el-Fasher and Kadugli, where famine conditions have been confirmed.
Volunteers express growing despair as they face burnout and danger in an increasingly unpredictable environment.
