(MENAFN) UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed on Monday told the Security Council that violence in conflict zones is devastating food systems and driving millions toward acute and even catastrophic hunger, warning that "food itself has become a weapon."

"War and hunger are often two faces of the same crisis," she said during a Council session on conflict-related food insecurity, adding: "The lived reality for hundreds of millions trapped in conflict zones bears this out with brutal clarity." She described how conflict destroys the foundations of food access: "Bullets and bombs obliterate the fields where food grows, the markets where people trade, and the roads that connect farmers to families."

She cautioned that "hunger strikes back with equal force," 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 argued that the Council cannot fulfill its mission while hunger continues to escalate: "There can be neither peace where people are starving nor security where hunger drives conflict."

Pointing to sharp rising needs, she highlighted that "Armed conflict drives acute food insecurity in 14 of 16 hunger hotspots worldwide." She noted that last year "295 million people faced acute hunger—14 million more than the year before," and that "the number of people experiencing catastrophic hunger has more than doubled to 1.9 million."

Detailing major 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," while millions in Haiti, Yemen, the Sahel and the Democratic Republic of the Congo remain "trapped in a vicious cycle of hunger and conflict."

Warning of ripple effects beyond borders, she said: "We live in an interconnected world where conflict in one region sends shockwaves across continents." Mohammed added: "This is the new arithmetic of conflict: when food systems are attacked, weaponized, the impact is global."

She explained that this weaponization takes the form of "deliberate starvation tactics, which we are seeing all too often, including recently in Gaza," together with "the systematic destruction of agricultural systems," "blockades that strangle supply," and "the calculated disruption of trade flows."

Contrasting global resources with unmet needs, 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." She emphasized: "We cannot address food security without addressing the root causes of conflict," and stressed that "we cannot build peace without ensuring people can feed themselves." Mohammed reminded the Council of its "authority" and "responsibility" to act amid "suffering beyond measure."

Sierra Leone's President Julius Maada Bio, presiding 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." He added: "Starvation is never a natural outcome of conflict. It is a choice, a choice to break the law and betray our shared humanity." Bio also said "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 promise.

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