Skip to main Communities My dashboard Log in Sign up Pan-African Research Journal Africa Published April 15, 2026 | Version v1 Journal article Open Organised Famine: Conflict-Induced Food Insecurity, State Agency, and the Failure of Accountability in South Sudan and Yemen Authors/Creators Office, Editorial Description Famine in conflict settings is often treated as an environmental or humanitarian crisis, yet it is frequently politically produced. The concept of organised famine captures how state and armed actors deliberately structure conditions of food insecurity as part of conflict strategy. Moving beyond a descriptive account, the manuscript situates the political economy of famine—focusing on state agency, conflict-induced deprivation, and international humanitarian law—in South Sudan and Yemen within broader debates on African political order, state formation, and institutional design. Anchored in South Sudan and Yemen, with historical comparison to Biafra and Ethiopia, the study addresses three interrelated questions: through which military, administrative, and economic mechanisms parties to the South Sudan conflict have deployed food insecurity as a weapon of war, and what evidentiary standards are required for accountability under international humanitarian law (IHL); how the political economy of humanitarian response—including donor interests, access negotiations, and aid diversion—interacts with strategies that sustain famine conditions; and what accountability mechanisms exist under IHL and the Rome Statute for the crime of starvation, and why these have systematically failed in the South Sudanese and Yemeni contexts. Methodologically, the study combines epidemiological analysis of IPC food security data (2013–2023), conflict event analysis using ACLED mapped against patterns of food insecurity, legal analysis of Rome Statute Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) and customary IHL, interviews with humanitarian practitioners, and comparative analysis with Biafra (1967–1970) and Ethiopian famines. The contribution lies not only in explaining specific national and historical cases, but in c Files final_69df5383c9f2b0.75305457_organised-famine-conflict-induced-food-insecurity-state-agency-and-the-failure-of-accountability-in-south-sudan-and-yemen.pdf Files (796.5 kB) Name Size Download all article.html md5:5c23fdbeafee52d6ab3e15ae6f3731db 394.8 kB Download final_69df5383c9f2b0.75305457_organised-famine-conflict-induced-food-insecurity-state-agency-and-the-failure-of-accountability-in-south-sudan-and-yemen.pdf md5:0cb4c869b144d6fc3d74bc33296a37bf 397.1 kB Preview Download review_bundle.zip md5:55bfa773f9e1a8ba2e623e284a0af3b1 4.6 kB Preview Download Additional details Related works Is identical to Journal article: https://parj.africa/parj_hrhtj/article/view/32239 (URL) 24 Views 27 Downloads Show more details All versions This version Views Total views 24 24 Downloads Total downloads 27 27 Data volume Total data volume 9.1 MB 9.1 MB More info on how stats are collected.... Versions External resources Indexed in OpenAIRE Communities Keywords and subjects Keywords Famine South Sudan starvation as weapon IHL accountability political economy of food Rome Statute Details DOI DOI Badge DOI 10.5281/zenodo.19590651 Markdown [](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19590651) reStructuredText .. image:: https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.19590651.svg :target: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19590651 HTML <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19590651"><img src="https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.19590651.svg" alt="DOI"></a> Image URL https://zenodo.org/badge/DOI/10.5281/zenodo.19590651.svg Target URL https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19590651 Resource type Journal article Publisher Zenodo Published in Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism, and Transitional Justice in Africa, 1(1), 2026. Languages English Rights License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International The Creative Commons Attribution license allows re-distribution and re-use of a licensed work on the condition that the creator is appropriately credited. Read more Citation Export Technical metadata Created April 15, 2026 Modified April 15, 2026 Jump up About About Policies Infrastructure Principles Projects Roadmap Contact Blog Blog Support Help FAQ Developers REST API OAI-PMH Contribute GitHub Donate Funded by Powered by CERN Data Centre & InvenioRDM Status Privacy policy Cookie policy Terms of Use This site uses cookies. Find out more on how we use cookies Accept all cookies Accept only essential cookies