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Satellite imagery reveals how Sudan’s war scorched its ‘breadbasket’

Al Jazeera · · 1261 words · By Al Jazeera Staff
Military Control and Food Security Agricultural Collapse RSF vs SAF Conflict
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/5/4/satellite-imagery-reveals-how-sudans-…

psychologyDetected Techniques

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Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
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Exaggeration / Hyperbole 70% confidence
Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

18 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

schedule Pending 8
info Single Source 5
check_circle Corroborated 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
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“Sudan descended into a bloody civil war on April 15, 2023 following a power struggle between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary force, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Multiple authoritative sources, including Wikipedia and the IRC, confirm the civil war began on April 15, 2023, between the SAF and RSF.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Rapid Support Forces (RSF; Arabic: قُوَّاتْ الدّعْمْ السَّرِيعْ, romanized: Quwwāt ad-daʿm as-sarīʿ) are a Sudanese paramilitary force formerly operated by the Sudanese government. They originated…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapid_Support_Forces
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Since April 2023, there has been a civil war in Sudan between two primary factions of the country's military government. The conflict involves the internationally recognized government, controlled by …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudanese_civil_war_(2023–prese…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Territory of the Rapid Support Forces refers to the areas controlled by the Rapid Support Forces from 2023 until 2025, until the founding of the Government of Peace and Unity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Territory_of_the_Rapid_Support…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“In the town of Abu Quta in northern Gezira state, RSF fighters equipped with heavy machine guns looted markets, the local police station, and the agricultural bank in December 2023.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While one web result mentions RSF looting livestock in Abu Quta, Gezira State, and others mention general looting in the region, the specific combination of looting markets, the police station, and the agricultural bank in Abu Quta in December 2023 is not corroborated by multiple independent sources in the provided evidence.
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web search NEUTRAL — Eyeing loot. The RSF has roots in so-called Janjaweed militias, which helped the military crush a rebellion in Sudan's western Darfur region two decades ago, gaining recognition as a state-sanctioned …
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2487012/rsf-fighters-cause-chao…
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web search NEUTRAL — Fighters also looted markets, burned crops and poisoned food supplies, killing another 50 people, witnesses told investigators. A 55-year-old resident of Tamboul told HRW that RSF fighters rounded up …
https://adf-magazine.com/2025/01/rsf-commanders-defection-tr…
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web search NEUTRAL — Residents reported hearing loud explosions emanating from the central and western parts of the city. In related developments, local resistance committees in Abu Quta, Gezira State, reported that the R…
https://www.theworldmonitor.com/sudanese-army-intensifies-ai…
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“Spanning some 924,000 hectares (2.28 million acres) between the Blue and White Nile Rivers, the project features more than 8,000 kilometres (4,970 miles) of canals and historically produced half of the country’s wheat.”
CORROBORATED
The specific figures (924,000 hectares, 8,000 km of canals, and 50% of wheat production) are identically reported by both Al Jazeera and World Tension.
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web search NEUTRAL — The irrigation canals of the Gezira Scheme as seen from space, 1997.Reginald Wingate, the British governor-general of Sudan, originally envisaged the farmers growing wheat but this was abandoned as th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gezira_Scheme
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web search NEUTRAL — Spanning 924,000 hectares — roughly 2.28 million acres — between the Blue and White Nile Rivers and threaded by more than 8,000 kilometres of canals, the scheme historically supplied half of Sudan’s w…
https://www.world-tension.com/sudans-breadbasket-lies-in-rui…
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web search NEUTRAL — Spanning some 924,000 hectares (2.28 million acres) between the Blue and White Nile Rivers, the project features more than 8,000 kilometres (4,970 miles) of canals and historically produced half of th…
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2026/5/4/satellite-imagery…
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“After the RSF captured Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira state, in December 2023, the agricultural system disintegrated.”
CORROBORATED
Wikipedia, The Guardian, and other news sources confirm the RSF captured Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira state, in December 2023.
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web search NEUTRAL — The Battle of Wad Madani was a battle in the Sudanese civil war over the control of Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State in east-central Sudan, between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Suppo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wad_Madani
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web search NEUTRAL — Videos posted by the RSF on Monday showed fighters in pickup trucks driving along streets in the city, the capital of el-Gezira state.Wad Madani, which was founded about 98 years ago when the country …
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/18/rsf-paramilita…
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web search NEUTRAL — The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Commander Mohamed ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo today acknowledged the Sudanese Armed Forces’ (SAF) recapture of Wad Madani, the capital of El Gezira state that the RSF …
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/joy-as-suda…
info
“Independent assessments, including a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), confirm that wheat production in Gezira plummeted by 58 percent during the 2023-2024 season.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web results for the FAO and wheat production are general reports or about other countries (Ethiopia); none of the provided evidence mentions a specific 58% plummet in Gezira's wheat production for 2023-2024.
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web search NEUTRAL — This article aims to examine trends, instability disparities, and decomposition analysis in wheat production across the top five wheat-producing countries in East Africa that government initiatives fo…
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/sae2.70073
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web search NEUTRAL — The government of Ethiopia is committed to self-sufficiency through initiatives such as wheat area expansion, irrigation development and yield gap closure. In this review, we explored wheat production…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S240584402…
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web search NEUTRAL — This chapter presents the key findings for the consumption, production, trade, and prices of major agricultural and fish commodities covered in the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook for the period 2024 to…
https://www.donorplatform.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/OEC…
info
“The European Union Agency for Asylum documented RSF fighters diverting irrigation channels, flooding agricultural lands, and even using bags of harvested crops as makeshift bridges over canals.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for the European Union consists of general Wikipedia entries and official EU homepages; there is no mention of the EU Agency for Asylum documenting irrigation diversion or crop bags used as bridges.
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web search NEUTRAL — The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. [9][10] A supranational union with a total area of 4,233,255 km 2 (1,634,469 sq mi) …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
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web search NEUTRAL — Europe is a continent [t] located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediter…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe
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web search NEUTRAL — Discover how the EU functions, its principles, priorities; find out about its history and member states; learn about its legal basis and your EU rights.
https://european-union.europa.eu/index_en
info
“The FAO noted that the al-Haiwawa canal, a critical artery serving 2,360 farmers across 48 villages, was among the most severely damaged.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for the FAO consists of general organizational descriptions; there is no mention of the al-Haiwawa canal or the specific number of farmers/villages affected.
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web search NEUTRAL — Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates to "let there be bread". It was founded on 16 October 1945 in Quebec City, Canada. [2] The FAO comprises 195 members, including 194 countries and the European U…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Agriculture_Organizat…
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web search NEUTRAL — FAO supports governments and partners to design the right policies and programmes to end hunger, promote food security and promote sustainable agriculture for millions of people around the world.
https://www.fao.org/home/en
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web search NEUTRAL — The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations leading international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO’s goal is to achieve food and security for all and...
https://www.un.org/en/ccoi/fao-food-and-agriculture-organiza…
info
“Hussein Saad, a former farmer and member of the Gezira and Al-Managil Farmers Alliance, told Radio Dabanga that the cost of a 50kg bag of fertiliser skyrocketed from 20,000 Sudanese pounds ($33) to 120,000 ($200), while tractor rental prices tripled.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web results discuss fertilizer prices in the UAE, Nepal, and food prices in Nigeria, but do not mention Hussein Saad, Radio Dabanga, or the specific price increase from 20,000 to 120,000 Sudanese pounds.
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web search NEUTRAL — Nitrogen fertilizer prices, almost double what they were before the Iran war, may climb further as vital supplies remain locked up in the Persian Gulf, according to one of the world’s biggest exporter…
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-20/uae-s-fer…
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web search NEUTRAL — The price of Ratnam Organic Fertilizer is only Rs 1,500.'In Nepal, an agricultural country, we always have to depend on foreign countries for fertilizer and farmers have to stand in line all day long …
https://ekantipur.com/business/2024/12/02/en/organic-fertili…
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web search NEUTRAL — Price of 50kg local rice rises 20.5% to N112,000 —NBS.Consumers Pay More As Prices Of Eggs, Beans, Local Rice, Others Rise In March.
https://news.google.com/stories/CAAqNggKIjBDQklTSGpvSmMzUnZj…
help
“Armed fighters looted the national seed bank and drained World Food Programme warehouses in Wad Madani that had held enough food to sustain 1.5 million people for a month.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided or found for the looting of the national seed bank or WFP warehouses in Wad Madani.
help
“an RSF-imposed telecommunications blackout in early 2024 paralysed financial transfers. This forced the closure of 200 out of 300 local soup kitchens”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was provided or found regarding an RSF-imposed telecommunications blackout in early 2024 or the closure of 200 soup kitchens.
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“Similar devastation was recorded in the Rahad and Suki Schemes located in Sennar and Gedaref states, covering 126,000 hectares (311,350 acres) and 37,800 hectares (93,400 acres), respectively.”
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“In November 2024, the SAF recaptured Singa in Sennar state, followed by Wad Madani in January 2025.”
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“By March 2025, the army controlled most of both states.”
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“This aligns with an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, which previously warned that 25.6 million people, which is half the country’s population, faced acute food insecurity, including 755,000 in catastrophic famine conditions.”
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“By late 2025, the IPC noted that 3.4 million people were no longer in crisis levels, attributing the improvement explicitly to the gradual stabilisation in Gezira, Sennar, and Khartoum following the RSF withdrawal.”
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“The SAF only declared full control of Khartoum in May 2025”
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“According to statements made by Sudan’s Minister of Industry Mahasin Ali Yagoub to the Al-Sudani newspaper, 126 large industrial facilities and 3,131 small factories in Gezira state alone were severely damaged.”
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“Khartoum’s industrial zones remain largely in ruins, with nearly 3,200 facilities destroyed”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.