Nearly two years after war broke out in Sudan, the heads of five international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have called on world leaders to take immediate, concrete action to end the conflict, protect civilians, and ensure aid reaches those who need it. In a joint statement on Thursday, the humanitarian leaders said "slow, too timid and dangerously inadequate" action has claimed countless lives already.
On April 15, 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched a brutal war that has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The United Nations estimates that 30 million people - two-thirds of Sudan's population - are in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of the conflict.
"Two years of war in Sudan have created a humanitarian catastrophe without parallel. Over 30 million people – nearly 65 percent of Sudan’s population – now need urgent assistance to survive. Attacks on civilians are relentless," the NGO statement said.
"Women and girls endure systemic sexual violence. The reported use of rape as a weapon of war paints one of the conflict’s darkest pictures."
The signatories of Thursday's statement are Charlotte Slente, Secretary General of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC); David Miliband, Chief Executive Officer of the International Rescue Committee (IRC); Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC); Reintje van Haeringen, Chair of the Executive Committee of CARE International; and Tjada D'Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps.
Two years of war have also turned Sudan into the world's largest hunger catastrophe, with famine spreading.
“The stories that our teams and partners share with us must be a wake-up call to the world: A father so desperate that he tried to sell his three children, hoping someone who could feed them would buy them; families forced to survive on grass and leaves because there’s simply nothing else to eat,” the heads of the humanitarian organizations said.
They warn that these “are not isolated cases, but the brutal reality for millions living in conflict-affected states.”
Famine has been confirmed in ten locations - eight in North Darfur and two in the Western Nuba Mountains. A further 17 areas - including parts of North, South and East Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, Khartoum and Gezira - are at risk of famine. In the worst-affected areas, one in three children is acutely malnourished, crossing the famine threshold.
“Meanwhile, lifesaving aid is being deliberately blocked as famine spreads – pushing entire communities towards starvation – and the looming rainy season threatens to flood critical transportation routes and further reduce access to communities in urgent need,” the NGO statement said.
Sudan continues to face a catastrophic humanitarian situation, with some 24.6 million people - almost half of the Sudanese population - facing severe hunger (IPC Phase 3 or worse). The rapid deterioration of food security in Sudan has left 638,000 people in catastrophic conditions (IPC Phase 5), while 8.1 million people are estimated to be in emergency hunger (IPC Phase 4).
“While the international community has taken steps to alleviate suffering, these remain too slow, too timid, and dangerously inadequate,” the humanitarian leaders said.
Sudan is also the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 16 million people currently uprooted by conflict in Sudan. The vast majority of the displaced - more than 12.8 million women, children and men - have been driven from their homes by the ongoing war, while some 3.3 million have been displaced before April 2023.
Over the course of nearly 24 months, more than 8.8 million people - including refugees already living in the country - have been internally displaced, and more than 4 million have been forced to flee to neighboring countries, including Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
“Exhausted and destitute, Sudanese refugees arriving in Chad, South Sudan and beyond find overcrowded camps, scarce resources, and a humanitarian system stretched to its absolute limits. The region is at a tipping point, with tensions now flaring in South Sudan, Chad and Ethiopia,” the statement said.
The heads of the humanitarian agencies warn that "the world's failure to fund humanitarian action in Sudan has now become the biggest obstacle to saving lives,” with only 10 percent of this year's $US4.1 billion appeal to help 20.9 million people in Sudan secured.
"Efforts to support refugees and returnees in neighboring countries also remain critically underfunded. This catastrophic gap is forcing Sudanese local responders to shut down life-saving communal kitchens and mobile clinics," they said.
“Yet they are the backbone of the humanitarian response, saving lives daily by reaching those in the greatest need with food, water, and medical care.”
To focus global attention on the crisis in Sudan, the European Union, together with the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the African Union, will host the London Sudan Conference on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, exactly two years after the start of the armed conflict.
“The upcoming ministerial conference on Sudan taking place in the United Kingdom must be a turning point. World leaders should move beyond rhetoric and take immediate, concrete action to end the conflict, protect civilians, ensure aid reaches those who need it, and stop the expansion of famine conditions,” the statement said.
“This requires facing a brutal truth: When funding dries up, people don’t just suffer—they die. Humanitarian organizations, including local responders, need resources now – not tomorrow, not after another round of talks – to halt the daily toll of preventable deaths.”
The humanitarian leaders stressed that the “world's delayed action has already cost countless lives. This cannot go on.”
In a related development on Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker TĂĽrk, also decried the devastating cost of inaction as the war in Sudan approaches its third year, focusing on widespread violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
The warring parties in Sudan are overseeing a full-scale assault on human rights amid global inaction, with profoundly disastrous consequences for civilians, TĂĽrk said.
“As hostilities have expanded in reach and intensity over the past year, the lives and hopes of so many Sudanese have been uprooted and caught in a mire of death, deprivation and suffering,” he said.
“Two years of this brutal and senseless conflict must be a wake-up call to the parties to lay down their weapons and for the international community to act. Sudan must not remain on this destructive path.”
The ongoing conflict is not simply a power struggle, TĂĽrk said, but is significantly influenced by the economic and business interests of national and international actors in key sectors such as gold and agricultural commodities. Revenues from international trade in Sudanese gold, gum arabic, and livestock have become the financial backbone of the war economy.
The proliferation and continued supply of weapons, including to the western region of Darfur, where a UN Security Council arms embargo is in place, also exacerbate the fighting, enable violations of international law, and undermine peace efforts.
“All those involved in facilitating the transfer of arms and military material to Darfur must stop, in line with their obligations to comply with the arms embargo,” stressed the High Commissioner, who also called for the arms embargo to be extended to the whole of Sudan.
The war between the SAF and the RSF has been characterized by complete disregard for the laws of war and international human rights law, with the parties regularly attacking populated areas and critical civilian infrastructure such as healthcare facilities, water stations and power plants, committing serious human rights violations and obstructing humanitarian aid.
TĂĽrk added that reprisal attacks and summary killings of people suspected of collaborating with opposing forces - often ethnically motivated - have continued unabated, fueled by hate speech and incitement to violence, particularly on social media.
The second anniversary of the conflict comes amid heightened concern for civilians in and around El Fasher in North Darfur State, where RSF has tightened its already longstanding siege amid fears of an imminent attack. There is also growing concern that hostilities could escalate and spread to new areas, including Kordofan, Blue Nile and Northern State.
Further information
Full text: Sudan: Two years of war, starvation & global failure, the world must act now, joint statement from the leadership of DRC, IRC, NRC, CARE International and Mercy Corps, published April 10, 2025
https://www.nrc.no/news/2025/april/joint-statement---two-years-of-war-starvation-and-global-failure-the-world-must-act-now-for-sudan
Full text: Sudan: TĂĽrk decries catastrophic cost of inaction as conflict approaches third year, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press release, published April 11, 2025
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/04/sudan-turk-decries-catastrophic-cost-inaction-conflict-approaches-third-year