Experts warn that 755,000 people at risk of famine in the coming months

Cairo: International experts portrayed a grim picture for war-torn Sudan in a report Thursday warning that 755,000 people are facing famine in the coming months, amid relentless clashes between rival generals.

The conflict has created a hunger catastrophe at a scale not seen since

the Darfur conflict in the early 2000s, senior United Nations officials said.

The latest findings come from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, an initiative first set up in 2004

during the famine in Somalia that now includes more than a dozen UN agencies, aid groups, governments and other bodies.

The report said that 8.5 million people are facing extreme food shortages after 14 months of conflict in Sudan, and that hunger has spread to the capital, Khartoum, and Jazira province, once Sudan’s breadbasket.

The northeastern African country descended into chaos in April last year when simmering tensions between the country’s military, led by Gen.

Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.

The devastating conflict has killed more than 14,000 people and

wounded 33,000 others, according to the United Nations, but rights activists say the toll could be much

higher.