Aid teams working to help the millions of people uprooted by the ongoing war in Sudan appealed for more international assistance on Friday amid desperate funding shortages, empty warehouses, and overwhelming needs. A staggering 15.4 million people urgently need shelter across the country, where the war that erupted in April 2023 between former allies-turned-rivals is deepening the suffering of civilians.
“Just yesterday, we had 16 trucks arriving in Darfur, but they were just the last that we had in our stocks. We are facing serious problems. Our supplies are running out,” Mohamed Refaat, chief of mission in Sudan for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), told reporters in Geneva on Friday.
Speaking from the Sudanese capital Khartoum, the veteran humanitarian officer noted that aid access to vulnerable, displaced, and returning people is better than it was, meaning that "we can reach more people."
But “this means also that we can listen to the stories of their suffering […]. We cannot say that we don’t know”.
Shifting front lines continue to force families to flee their homes. Many are left without a safe place to sleep or a blanket to keep warm, said Abubakarr Jalloh, the UN Refugee Agency's (UNHCR) deputy representative in Sudan, Jalloh, who was also speaking from Khartoum.
“For a woman who has lost everything, a tent is more than just a shelter; it means the difference between sleeping in the open, surrounded by strangers and having a space of her own. It means dignity. It is privacy. And it is safety for that woman and family,” he said.
For people displaced by conflict, “a solar lamp is more than just a source of light, it is safety,” Jalloh continued.
“It means a woman can reach a latrine at night without walking in darkness. A kitchen set is also more than a collection of household items. It means a mother can cook for children, without exposing herself to the unnecessary risk.”
Families struggling to cope
In a joint statement issued on Friday, UNHCR and IOM stressed that due to funding shortages, humanitarian agencies can only assist around one in ten people in need today.
Three in four internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sudan are women and children, said Jalloh, who added that El Niño-related weather conditions have made people more vulnerable due to significantly below-average rainfall across Sudan this year.
This has negatively impacted harvests in Darfur, Kordofan, and other regions that are already experiencing the effects of ongoing conflict. Although food prices would normally decrease after the harvest season, they remain "painfully high," according to the UNHCR official.
“For a family that has lost everything, every Sudanese pound spent on food is money that cannot be spent on a blanket or on materials needed for safe shelter,” Jalloh stressed.
Emergency stocks are exhausted
With emergency supplies reaching critically low levels, the UN agencies warned that, without urgent provision of flexible funding, more families will face the coming winter months unprotected from harsh weather conditions, insecurity, and the risks of violence and exploitation.
“This year, I was able to distribute more than 40,000 tons [of relief assistance]. But our warehouses are completely empty now,” Refaat said.
Consequences reach beyond Sudan’s borders
More than 5.2 million people have returned to their areas of origin, but many are unable to return home as countless homes have been destroyed or looted. Healthcare, electricity, and water services are largely unavailable in many locations, meaning people may be forced to leave again "without any hope of returning."
The IOM official also noted that Sudanese nationals currently make up the largest group of people arriving in Europe via the Eastern Mediterranean route.
“If we are not able to provide aid in Sudan at scale, it means neighboring countries will be impacted, other countries will be impacted,” he said.
The world’s largest displacement crisis
Over three and a half years into the war, Sudan remains the site of the world's largest displacement crisis, with over 13 million people having been forced to flee their homes to date. Of those displaced, approximately 8.6 million remain within Sudan's borders, while about 5 million have fled to neighboring countries due to ongoing warfare or previous conflict.
Despite Sudan's dire situation, its 2026 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) remains severely underfunded. So far, only 49 percent of the required US$2.9 billion has been received.
Consequently, aid agencies have been forced to further reduce essential services. Even under the original plan, assistance was only intended to reach 20.4 million of the 33.7 million people in need across the country.
Refaat said that millions of Sudanese families have already lost so much.
“We cannot undo what they have endured, but we can make sure that they have a safe place to sleep tonight.”