All community kitchens, locally known as “takayas,” have stopped operating in the South Belt area of Khartoum, worsening the humanitarian situation and threatening a vital source of food for tens of thousands of families and displaced people.
A member of the South Belt emergency committees told Radio Dabanga that the kitchens ceased operations after the Sudanese army retook the area, at the same time that foreign funding and grants supporting humanitarian organisations dried up.
The source said organisations including Sadagaat, Hadreen and Nidaa had previously helped finance and provide meals through the community kitchens.
According to the emergency committee member, the organisations were supporting food assistance for around 50,000 families, leaving a major gap after funding was cut and the kitchens stopped functioning.
The shutdown has further deepened food insecurity in South Belt, where residents and displaced families have already been struggling with the effects of Sudan’s prolonged war, disrupted livelihoods and limited access to basic services.
Community kitchens have played a crucial role during the conflict, providing meals to civilians in areas where markets, public services and conventional humanitarian aid networks have been severely disrupted.
The suspension of the South Belt kitchens now leaves tens of thousands of households facing growing uncertainty over how they will secure their daily food needs.
