A2 · Elementary
7 min
foodhumanitarian aidconflictpoliticsinternational relations
El Regreso del Pan: Hambre, Guerra y Ayuda en Sudán
The Return of Bread: Hunger, War, and Aid in Sudan
Fletcher breaks down this story in English. Octavio reacts and expands in Spanish. Follow along with the live transcript, tap any word for its translation. Elementary level — perfect for beginners building confidence.
So here's a sentence I did not expect to read this week: the World Food Programme has returned to Khartoum, Sudan, for the first time in three years.
Sí.
Yes.
El Programa Mundial de Alimentos vuelve a Sudán.
The World Food Programme returns to Sudan.
And the fact that this is news, that an aid organization returning to a country's capital is a headline, tells you everything about the situation there.
Bueno, mira, en Sudán hay mucha hambre ahora.
Well, look, in Sudan there is a lot of hunger right now.
Right.
And for context, Khartoum is the capital.
It's not some remote province.
If the WFP couldn't operate in the capital for three years, imagine what's been happening in places like Darfur.
La guerra es muy peligrosa para el trabajo humanitario.
War is very dangerous for humanitarian work.
I mean, the civil war in Sudan started in April 2023, two years ago now.
The Sudanese Armed Forces on one side, the Rapid Support Forces on the other.
And Khartoum became a battlefield almost immediately.
A ver, la gente no tiene comida.
Look, people don't have food.
Es una crisis muy grave.
It's a very serious crisis.
The UN declared famine in Sudan last year.
That's a formal declaration, with very specific technical criteria.
It means people are already dying of starvation.
Sí.
Yes.
Hay muchos niños con hambre en Sudán.
There are many hungry children in Sudan.
The numbers are staggering.
Around 25 million people, roughly half the country's population, face acute food insecurity.
That's not a food shortage.
That's a food catastrophe.
Mira, el hambre y la guerra siempre van juntos.
Look, hunger and war always go together.
Siempre.
Always.
That's the thing, isn't it.
And I want to sit with that for a second because I think people sometimes treat famine as a natural disaster, like a drought or a flood.
But in Sudan, as in most modern famines, this is man-made.
Es que los soldados destruyen la comida.
The thing is, soldiers destroy food.
Es una táctica de guerra.
It is a tactic of war.
Exactly.
Burning crops, blocking supply routes, using food as a weapon.
It's as old as warfare itself, and it's a war crime under international law.
Has been since the Geneva Conventions.
La verdad es que las dos partes hacen esto en Sudán.
The truth is that both sides do this in Sudan.
No, you're absolutely right about that.
The RSF has been accused of looting food warehouses, aid convoys, markets.
And the Sudanese Armed Forces have blocked humanitarian access to areas controlled by the other side.
Both sides are implicated.
Bueno, el mercado es muy importante para la comida normal.
Well, the market is very important for normal food supply.
Right.
And this is something I find fascinating, actually.
Most people in conflict zones don't eat aid food.
They eat from local markets.
When fighting destroys a city's markets and supply chains, that's when people starve.
A ver, en Jartum los mercados no funcionan bien ahora.
Look, in Khartoum the markets don't work well now.
So the WFP going back to Khartoum is significant not just symbolically.
Their presence helps stabilize those local food systems.
They work with local vendors, local farmers, local networks.
It's not just dropping bags of rice.
Sí, el Programa Mundial de Alimentos compra comida local también.
Yes, the World Food Programme also buys local food.
Here's what gets me, though.
All of this is happening at the exact moment that global aid budgets are being slashed.
The OECD reported this week that development assistance from its member countries fell by 23 percent in 2025.
The largest single-year drop ever recorded.
Es que Estados Unidos no da mucho dinero ahora.
The thing is, the United States doesn't give much money now.
Esto es un problema grande.
This is a big problem.
The US has historically been the largest single donor to the WFP.
And when USAID was effectively dismantled under the second Trump administration, the effects weren't abstract.
They showed up on the ground, in Sudan, in Yemen, in the Sahel.
Mira, sin dinero, las organizaciones no pueden dar comida.
Look, without money, organizations cannot give food.
Look, I spent time in Darfur years ago, reporting.
And I remember talking to a WFP logistics coordinator who told me, with completely flat affect, that every dollar cut from the budget was a calculable number of missed meals.
She had the spreadsheet.
La verdad es que la comida de emergencia salva vidas.
The truth is that emergency food saves lives.
Esto es muy claro.
This is very clear.
And let's talk about Darfur specifically for a moment, because there's a story from there this week too.
The Sudan Founding Alliance says 56 civilians were killed, including 17 children, in a drone strike on a wedding celebration in Kutum, North Darfur.
Sí.
Yes.
Una boda.
A wedding.
La gente come, celebra, y llega un dron.
People eat, celebrate, and a drone arrives.
The extraordinary thing is that Darfur has been a crisis for over twenty years now.
The international community has cycled through outrage and exhaustion and back again.
And people are still dying at weddings.
Bueno, en Darfur la comida también es un arma.
Well, in Darfur food is also a weapon.
Los soldados queman los campos.
Soldiers burn the fields.
Right.
And I want to bring this back to something more fundamental.
There's a concept in food security work called the three As: availability, access, and affordability.
You can have food in a country and people still starve if they can't physically reach it or can't pay for it.
Es que en Sudan hay comida en algunos lugares.
The thing is, in Sudan there is food in some places.
Pero la gente no puede llegar.
But people cannot get there.
Exactly.
The roads are dangerous.
The checkpoints are controlled by armed groups who take a cut of everything.
Food aid gets looted.
It's infrastructure, really.
War destroys the infrastructure of eating.
A ver, comer es normal para nosotros.
Look, eating is normal for us.
Pero en Sudán es muy difícil.
But in Sudan it is very difficult.
That contrast is worth holding onto.
Here we are, two people who will definitely argue about what to have for lunch after this recording.
And in Sudan, a family is calculating whether there is enough food to give the children a second meal today.
La verdad es que la paz es necesaria para comer bien.
The truth is that peace is necessary to eat well.
Sin paz, no hay comida.
Without peace, there is no food.
So the WFP returning to Khartoum.
Is that a sign the situation is improving, or is it just that the organization decided the need was too great to stay away?
Mira, creo que la necesidad es muy grande.
Look, I think the need is very great.
Es una decisión difícil.
It is a difficult decision.
Right.
And aid workers take enormous personal risks to be in these places.
I've covered enough conflicts to know that the WFP logo on a truck is not always protection.
Sometimes it's a target.
Bueno, trabajar con comida en una guerra es muy peligroso.
Well, working with food in a war is very dangerous.
Hay mucho coraje aquí.
There is a lot of courage here.
So what does this mean for listeners?
I think the take-home is this: the Sudan hunger crisis is not separate from all the other crises we discuss on this show.
The Iran war is pushing up oil prices, which pushes up food prices globally, which hits the poorest countries hardest.
It's all connected.
Sí.
Yes.
El precio del petróleo sube, y el precio de la comida también sube.
The price of oil goes up, and the price of food also goes up.
Todo está conectado.
Everything is connected.
The return of the WFP to Khartoum is a small, cautious step.
But it's a step.
And in a story this bleak, I'll take it.
La verdad es que la comida es un derecho.
The truth is that food is a right.
No es un privilegio.
It is not a privilege.