'Food itself has become a weapon,' UN deputy chief warns as conflicts fuel global hunger

HAMILTON, Canada

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on Monday warned the Security Council that violence in conflict zones is devastating food systems and pushing millions toward acute and catastrophic hunger, stressing that "food itself has become a weapon."

"War and hunger are often two faces of the same crisis," Mohammed said at a Security Council meeting on conflict-related food insecurity, adding: "The lived reality for hundreds of millions trapped in conflict zones bears this out with brutal clarity."

Describing how conflict destroys the foundations of food access, she said: "Bullets and bombs obliterate the fields where food grows, the markets where people trade, and the roads that connect farmers to families."

"And hunger strikes back with equal force," she said, noting that "empty bellies fuel desperation, desperation fuels displacement and violence, and the result is instability and often the destruction of the very systems that produce food."

Mohammed stressed that the council cannot achieve its mandate while hunger continues to rise. "There can be neither peace where people are starving nor security where hunger drives conflict," she said.

Citing data on escalating needs, she noted: "Armed conflict drives acute food insecurity in 14 of 16 hunger hotspots worldwide."

Last year, she said, "295 million people faced acute hunger—14 million more than the year before," while "the number of people experiencing catastrophic hunger has more than doubled to 1.9 million."

Highlighting the regions with severe crises, she said: "In Sudan, the world's largest hunger crisis, violence is perpetuating famine across Darfur and Kordofan."

In Gaza, she said, "famine was confirmed in August," and "the situation remains severe," adding that across Haiti, Yemen, the Sahel, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, millions remain "trapped in a vicious cycle of hunger and conflict."

Warning over the international impacts of regional crises, she said: "We live in an interconnected world where conflict in one region sends shockwaves across continents."

"This is the new arithmetic of conflict: when food systems are attacked, weaponized, the impact is global," Mohammed said.

The UN deputy chief further explained that this weaponization occurs through "deliberate starvation tactics, which we are seeing all too often, including recently in Gaza," as well as "the systematic destruction of agricultural systems," "blockades that strangle supply," and "the calculated disruption of trade flows."

Pointing to the world's military spending, she said: "The world's total military expenditure over the past decade is estimated at $21.9 trillion, yet ending hunger by 2030 costs much less—$93 billion per year."

"We cannot address food security without addressing the root causes of conflict," she said, stressing that "we cannot build peace without ensuring people can feed themselves."

She further reminded the council of its "authority" and "responsibility" to act in the face of "suffering beyond measure."

Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio, presiding over the meeting as council president, said that "from Gaza to the Sahel, from Sudan to Ukraine, and in parts of Haiti, hunger has been weaponized, a silent siege that lasts long after the guns are silent."

"Starvation is never a natural outcome of conflict. It is a choice, a choice to break the law and betray our shared humanity," he said.

Bio also added that "Africa is not here to be pitied for its challenges, but to be partnered for its solutions," calling for solidarity to unlock the continent's agricultural potential.