‘This Is Life and Death’: Trump’s USAID Shakeup Threatens Millions in Sudan

President Donald Trump’s decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has triggered an immediate humanitarian crisis in Sudan, according to relief organizations operating in the country.

Across Sudan, a nation already suffering from nearly two years of civil war, famine is spreading and violence remains relentless. The policies of the Trump administration are beginning to show up as consequences for some of the world’s most vulnerable people, aid workers say. Front-line aid workers and academics who spoke to Newsweek warned that at least 2 million people are in immediate danger, with many more at risk as food supplies dwindle.

“We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Elon Musk, whom Trump has put in charge of a new pseudo-government office tasked with cutting waste, boasted last week. Calling the agency a “radical-left political psy-op” and “a criminal organization,” Musk declared that it was “time for it to die.”

A Lifeline Disappears Overnight

Before the USAID funding freeze, a vast network of community kitchens fed millions of displaced people across Sudan, a country where civil war has left half of its 50 million citizens in need of food aid. Now, as famine spreads, Islamist militias and their military allies are battling a paramilitary group accused of genocide by Washington.

“This is a matter of life and death for hundreds of thousands of people,” warned Avril Benoît, executive director of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) USA. “If we don’t act now, entire communities will be devastated by famine before the world even takes notice. And ‘famine’ isn’t just a word we use lightly.”

USAID had been the largest financial backer for humanitarian operations in Sudan, distributing money through other nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to ensure aid reached people in need.

As of December 2024, USAID has provided over $2 billion in humanitarian assistance to Sudan and neighboring countries since April 2023. But as the funding stopped last week, over 80 percent of these kitchens were forced to close, according to Abuzar Osman Suliman, coordinator of the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs).

“Before the new U.S. administration, a significant portion of humanitarian aid in Sudan—about 17%—came from the U.S.,” Suliman told Newsweek. “This support was crucial in building and sustaining our movement. But once the funding was cut, it disrupted this entire system.”

ERRs, grassroots organizations that provide emergency relief, had been running over 7,000 communal kitchens in the capital of Khartoum alone. Now, more than 95 percent of them have stopped operating.

“It cost $10,000 for a single kitchen in Darfur to feed 250 families for two weeks,” Suliman said. “Now, people are left with nothing.”

Starvation as a Weapon of War

For those trapped in conflict zones, the situation is growing more desperate. In Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, and the Blue Nile region, food scarcity is being weaponized—as both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group, are accused of using starvation tactics against civilians.

“The RSF has no regard for international law, human rights, or humanitarian law—they simply don’t care,” Benoît said. “They are a ruthless force that is now also a vengeful force, seeking revenge for their losses.”

In Zamzam IDP Camp, home to nearly a million displaced people, food distribution has all but collapsed. Aid workers say that hunger is forcing people to make impossible choices—to stay and risk starvation, or to flee through RSF-controlled territory, where they face violence, robbery and potential death.

“Most people are arriving with virtually nothing after being forcibly displaced by the RSF,” Benoît explained. “And humanitarian supplies are piling up in Adré, a city near the Sudan-Chad border, but they can’t get through. Food is just sitting there, rotting.”

To make matters even more dire, Sudan’s medical infrastructure is collapsing.

“There are very few INGOs operating, even in areas where the conflict has somewhat subsided,” said Andrea Tracy, a former USAID official who now works with the aid group Proximity 2 Humanity.

“The emergency response rooms play a crucial role,” she said. “About 2 million people rely on them every month. With USAID cuts, NGOs are scaling back, which means the emergency response teams have to do more with even fewer resources, making an already dire situation even worse.”

A Looming Security Crisis

While humanitarian groups scramble to respond, security analysts warn that the USAID shutdown has deeper consequences that could come back to haunt the United States.

“When people have no other options, they turn to armed groups,” said Tracy.

One of the most pressing concerns is Sudan’s geopolitical position. The country sits at the center of Africa, bordering Chad, Libya, and Egypt, with unstable regions that make fertile ground for extremist groups looking to expand their influence.

According to Eric Reeves, a Sudan expert and professor emeritus at Smith College, Sudan has long been a hotbed for armed insurgencies, and USAID’s withdrawal could accelerate that process.

“By cutting off aid, the U.S. is effectively pushing more young men into the arms of militant groups,” Reeves said. “This is exactly how extremist movements recruit—they thrive in places where there is no functioning government, no aid, and no hope.”

The Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaeda affiliates have already issued statements celebrating Sudan’s deepening crisis, seeing it as an opportunity for expansion.

“The RSF, which is already one of the most brutal fighting forces in the region, is absorbing new recruits at an alarming rate,” Reeves said. “Young men with no food, no education, and no future become prime targets for radicalization.”

A Nation Left to Fend for Itself

With USAID gone, Sudanese aid workers are turning to private donors and international NGOs to keep some baseline level of aid flowing.

According to Suliman, a surge of grassroots donations—particularly from the U.S.—has provided some relief.

“Seventy percent of the $1 million in emergency donations we’ve received has come from American individuals,” he said. “Regular people who care, even when their government doesn’t.”

But even with private support, the scale of the crisis far exceeds what local efforts can handle. Aid groups estimate that if the USAID freeze is not reversed, Sudan could experience a full-scale famine within months.

For those on the ground, the suffering is already overwhelming.

“This is life and death,” Benoît said. “If we don’t act now, the famine will consume entire communities before the world even notices.”