Sudan’s civil war has entered its fourth year. The numbers are staggering: 33.7 million people need humanitarian aid. That is two-thirds of the country’s population.
Why it matters
The UN’s top humanitarian official called Sudan an “abandoned crisis.” While international attention has shifted to the Middle East conflict, Sudanese civilians continue to be killed, displaced, and subjected to widespread sexual violence. For the third consecutive year, Sudan tops the International Rescue Committee’s Emergency Watchlist as the country most at risk of worsening humanitarian disaster.
The scale
More than 8.8 million people have been internally displaced since fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces erupted in April 2023. Over 4 million refugees have fled to neighbouring countries. Chad hosts more than 900,000. Egypt has taken in 1.5 million.
The country’s food system has been pushed to the brink. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, millions of families survive on one meal a day or less. More than 21 million people face acute food insecurity.
Health system collapse
The World Health Organisation reports that 37% of Sudan’s health facilities are non-functional. Humanitarians have treated close to 2,500 survivors of sexual violence over the past year, with reports of widespread rape emerging from Darfur.
An abandoned crisis
What began as a power struggle between two generals has grown into one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of this century. Children make up a disproportionate share of those affected. Entire communities have been uprooted, their homes destroyed, their livelihoods erased.
The world has looked away. The suffering in Sudan demands that it look back.