WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Today, a U.N.-backed# watchdog group that tracks hunger warned## that famine is spreading to more# parts of Darfur in Western Sudan.

Sudan is already enduring the largest# humanitarian crisis in the world.

And,## today, a paramilitary rebel group, the Rapid# Support Forces, struck a military hospital,## reportedly killing at least 22 people.

The U.N.

says the war between the# RSF and Sudan's army has driven 14## million people from their homes# and killed an estimated 40,000.

Nick Schifrin and producer Zeba Warsi spoke# to civilians trapped in the epicenter of## this nearly 3-year-old civil war.

NICK SCHIFRIN: With guns in the air,## the Sudanese military declared# a city of 100,000 finally free.

For two years, Kadugli had been strangled## by the paramilitary rebel group# Rapid Support Forces.

This week,## the streets were strewn with supporters of# Sudan's army chief, who declared them liberated.

GEN.

ABDEL FATTAH AL-BURHAN, Sudanese Armed# Forces (through translator): Congratulations## to the people of Kadugli on the .. Kadugli on the arrival of the armed forces.

The# armed forces will reach every place in Sudan.

NICK SCHIFRIN: But this moment# follows months of relentless violence.## Sudan's armed forces pushed deeper into# RSF-held cities.

They broke the RSF siege,## but revealed overwhelming suffering.# In a refugee camp outside Kadugli,## survivors living in tents after fleeing their# homes share stories of hunger and horror.

Haja Bahareldin is one of many# here suffering overwhelming grief.

HAJA BAHARELDIN, Displaced Sudanese# Woman (through translator): One of my## children died on the roa.. of my children have died.

Now I have# no small child to carry in my arms.

NICK SCHIFRIN: Mothers who've lost children to# hunger and entire families to drone attacks.

ZAKIA RAMADAN, Displaced Sudanese Woman# (through translator): My brother and## nephew and son were killed when .. four children who died, three girls# and a boy.

They all died of hunger.

NICK SCHIFRIN: A local aid worker in Dilling,## a city held by the RSF since the war# began in 2023, sent us this message.

MAN: There is a famine, families forced to eat# tree leaves and grass to survive.

There is death## amongst the families.

One case is death of five# children from one family due to poisoning after## eating grass.

Many families have lost members# due to shelling and due to attacks by drone.

NICK SCHIFRIN: After the RSF carried# out brutal killings in Darfur's El## Fasher late last year and seized# control of the entire Darfur region,## the focus of the war shifted east to# Sudan's central, oil-rich Kordofan region.

In South Kordofan, the army has retaken# the state's capital and richest cities.## And in North Kordofan, the RSF# has intensified drone strikes,## expanding its reach and# attacking the city of El Obeid.

As the SAF and RSF battle for control, civilians# lose everything.

This house was hit last month,## killing nine members of the same# family, including seven children.

MOUSSA ADAM, Neighbor and Eyewitness (through# translator): When we came, we found the children## under the rubble, under the iron, under the# beds.

Only God knows the state of the.. bodies.

They used to be living people and they# became dead bodies.

This is what happened.

NICK SCHIFRIN: In El Obeid, satellite imagery# from the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab shows## nearly 100 new burial mounds in just two# weeks between January 2 and January 14.

MAN: Sounds of the war everywhere.

NICK SCHIFRIN: We spoke to this aid worker# in South Kordofan who asked us to blur his## identity.

He's trying to help the displaced,# who are receiving little to no help.

MAN: Civilians are suffering a lot without# any support from any humanitarian actors.

So,## this is the suffering of the civilians# here since the eruption of this conflict.

NICK SCHIFRIN: It erupted in April 2023 as a# power struggle that became a brutal civil war.## Sudanese cities have become battlegrounds.# Both sides are accused of war crimes.

But in Darfur in Western Sudan, the RSF is# accused of genocide.

The rebels descend from## the government-backed Janjaweed militias that# in the 2000s brutally crushed an uprising and## killed hundreds of thousands of non-Arabs.

Then,# too, the U.S.

labeled their actions genocide.

Today's report by the umbrella organization# that declares famine says famine has spread## in North Darfur and more than half of# all children under five suffer acute## malnutrition.

And it reports that, in Kordofan,# people are now more likely to die due to hunger.