CAIRO (AP) — 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 fighting 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 set up in 2004 during the famine in Somalia that now includes more than a dozen U.
N. 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. “It is truly heartbreaking to see food scarcity and deprivation on the rise,” said John Makoni, a national director for World Vision, one of the largest aid groups working in Sudan. “We have a looming catastrophic situation that is quickly approaching.
" The northeastern African country descended into chaos in April last year. That's 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.
