Some 24.6 million people—half of Sudan’s population—are experiencing food insecurity, which cements its status as the world’s worst hunger hot spot.

The world’s leading experts on hunger, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Famine Review Committee, found that famine has spread in Sudan.

CAIRO — Famine is spreading in Sudan due to a war between the military and a notorious paramilitary group that has devastated the country and created the world’s largest displacement crisis, a global hunger monitoring group said Tuesday.

The agencies warned that more than half of Sudan’s population – some 24.6 million people – are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity.

According to the U.N. nearly 14 million people have been displaced and more than 24,000 people have been killed in Sudan's war.

War-hit Sudan is sliding into a "widening famine crisis" that has been marked by worsening starvation and a surge in acute malnutrition, an independent group of food security experts says. Famine has spread to five areas,

Famine in Sudan has expanded to five areas and will likely spread to another five by May, the global hunger monitor reported Tuesday, while warring parties continue to disrupt humanitarian aid needed to alleviate one of the worst starvation crises in modern times.