The United Nations and international aid agencies are warning that the lives of millions of people in Sudan are at risk as the world turns its attention away from the enormous humanitarian needs facing the war-torn country. Today, Sudan entered a year of war that many have called the world's largest human-made crisis, with half the population in need of life-saving assistance, tens of thousands killed and injured, and millions uprooted from their homes.
Sudan
Nearly a year after the outbreak of war in Sudan, the conflict continues to rage, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes every day and creating one of the largest and most challenging humanitarian emergencies and displacement crises in the world. The number of displaced people has now surpassed 8.8 million, with more than 2 million of them having crossed borders.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says it has succeeded in delivering desperately needed food and nutritional supplies to Sudan's Darfur region, the first WFP convoys to reach the war-torn region in months. But the UN food agency warned Friday that the hunger catastrophe in the country will only worsen unless the people of Sudan receive a steady flow of aid through all possible humanitarian corridors - from neighboring countries and across battle lines.
Children are being denied access to life-saving humanitarian aid in conflict zones around the world in blatant disregard for international law, a senior United Nations official told the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday. Speakers at the hearing focused in particular on the alarming situation for children in Gaza and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Sudan, Haiti, Yemen, Myanmar, Mali, Afghanistan and Ukraine.
More than eleven months into the armed conflict in Sudan, 24 million children are at risk of a “generational catastrophe”, and their rights to life, survival, protection, education, health, and development have all been gravely violated, a UN committee has said. To mark nearly a year of brutality against Sudanese children, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) issued a statement on Monday, urging Sudan to immediately put an end to these grave violations and stop recruiting children into its armed forces.
The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution Friday calling for a Ramadan cease-fire in Sudan, where the UN Secretary-General warned this week that the humanitarian crisis has reached "colossal proportions." The resolution also urged the warring parties to seek a sustainable resolution to the war in Sudan through dialogue and to remove any obstructions to the distribution of humanitarian aid.
Nearly 11 months of war in Sudan has shattered millions of lives and created one of the world's largest displacement crises. The humanitarian emergency also risks becoming the world's largest hunger crisis if the fighting does not stop, warned United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director Cindy McCain on Wednesday as she concluded a visit to South Sudan, where she met families fleeing violence and an escalating hunger emergency in Sudan.
A report by the UN human rights office accuses both of Sudan’s warring parties of committing horrific violations and abuses against the country’s civilian population, “some of which may amount to war crimes and possibly other serious crimes under international law.” The UN report holds the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) responsible for the killings of at least 14,600 civilians and the forced displacement of more than 8 million people both inside Sudan and as refugees in five neighboring countries.
United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) Martin Griffiths on Tuesday released US$100 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support underfunded humanitarian emergencies in seven countries in Africa, the Americas and the Middle East. The crises in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Sudan and Syria top the list, receiving $20 million each.
Sudan is experiencing escalating rates of hunger and malnutrition as the consequences of conflict and displacement spread through the region. At least 25 million people in the region are affected by food insecurity, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today, while thousands of families are displaced and forced across the borders into Chad and South Sudan every week.
As Sudan has entered its tenth month of conflict, United Nations agencies launched a US$4.1 billion appeal Wednesday to provide urgent aid for 14.7 million people inside Sudan and 2.7 million refugees and host communities in five neighboring countries. Due to the war, half of Sudan’s population – some 25 million people – needs humanitarian assistance and protection. More than 1.6 million people have fled across Sudan’s borders to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is calling for immediate, unimpeded and safe access to conflict-hit areas of Sudan to provide food to millions of displaced people facing acute hunger, amid warnings that this “forgotten war” has potential implications for regional stability. The UN agency says more than nine months of conflict have taken an unimaginable toll on civilians. WFP calls the situation beyond dire, noting that almost 18 million people are facing acute hunger.
The international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on Monday called attention to the plight of people fleeing the war in Sudan and to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in South Sudan, as more than 500,000 refugees and returnees have crossed into the neighboring country. Meanwhile, intercommunal violence is affecting the safe delivery of humanitarian aid in the disputed Abyei region following deadly attacks on Saturday and Sunday.
The international non-governmental organization (NGO) CARE has called Monday on the international community to pay attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan and increase funding. The war in Sudan, which entered its tenth month last week, continues to cause extreme suffering for millions across the country and in neighboring states, with women and children experiencing the conflict’s impacts most acutely.
International donor funding to alleviate hunger in the world's neediest countries plummeted in 2023, despite exacerbating global food insecurity reaching record highs, aid agencies warn. Humanitarian appeals for the 17 countries bearing the brunt of food insecurity suffered a staggering funding gap of 65 percent last year, up 23 percent from 2022, according to an analysis released this week by the humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) has called Wednesday on the international community to step-up funding efforts, and to not abandon millions of civilians who bear the brunt of the nine months conflict in Sudan. With nearly 25 million people requiring relief aid, a coordinated and continued humanitarian response is urgently needed to address the mounting needs of the world’s largest internal displacement crisis.
The United Nations relief chief, Martin Griffiths, warns that nearly nine months of war have tipped Sudan into a downward spiral that only grows more ruinous by the day. In a statement issued Thursday, Griffiths said that in 2024, the international community – particularly those with influence on the parties to the conflict in Sudan – must take decisive and immediate action to stop the fighting and safeguard humanitarian operations to help millions of civilians.
The United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) reports Thursday that up to 300,000 people have fled Al-Jazirah state following the clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) around Wad Madani, the capital of Al-Jazirah State. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), half of them are children. Around 7 million people have been already displaced inside and outside Sudan since fighting broke out between the warring parties on April 15, 2023.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says thousands have been displaced after clashes broke out Friday morning between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in the outskirts of the Sudanese town of Wad Madani. As of Sunday, the fighting in the capital of Al-Jazirah State, located some 136 km southeast of Sudan’s national capital Khartoum, is ongoing.
The humanitarian organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) has released its annual Emergency Watchlist Thursday, highlighting the 20 countries most at risk of deteriorating humanitarian crises in 2024. This year, Sudan, Occupied Palestinian Territory and South Sudan top the list of humanitarian emergencies, as conflict, climate risk, economic pressures, growing impunity, and waning international support fuel new and ongoing humanitarian crises around the globe.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned Wednesday about a “looming hunger catastrophe” in Sudan, where months of conflict, high food prices and lower crop yields have left an increasing number of people at emergency levels of hunger. According to latest IPC food security analysis released Tuesday, some 17.7 million people across Sudan face high levels of acute food insecurity, classified in IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) or worse between October 2023 and February 2024.
A dozen independent United Nations experts, appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, expressed alarm Thursday about the escalation of violence in Sudan, particularly sexual violence committed in the conflict, primarily by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). In a statement, they said gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual violence, is used as a tool of war and no longer concentrated in Khartoum or Darfur, but has spread to other parts of the country, such as Kordofan.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is warning of a looming halt to its food and nutrition assistance to 1.4 million crisis-affected populations in Chad – including newly arrived Sudanese refugees - due to funding constraints. Today's warning comes as aid agencies scramble to respond to a fresh wave of Sudanese refugees fleeing the unimaginable humanitarian crisis unfolding in neighboring Darfur amid reports of mass killings, rapes, and widespread destruction.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) says it is gravely concerned at the latest developments in Sudan as fighting escalates in the Darfur region. UNHCR warned Friday it was receiving deeply alarming reports of continued sexual violence, torture, arbitrary killings, extortion of civilians and targeting of specific ethnic groups in the region.
A senior official from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) Tuesday warned that "an unimaginable humanitarian crisis" was unfolding in Sudan, with millions of people being forcibly displaced from their homes by an increasingly vicious conflict. Since the conflict started more than six months ago, over 6.2 million people have become displaced inside Sudan or have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is warning that the situation for civilians in Sudan’s volatile Darfur region is worsening as fighting between the country’s two rival armed groups escalates and intercommunal tensions rise. OCHA reported Friday that renewed clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur “have killed dozens of civilians and wounded many more; thousands have been displaced and civilian property has been destroyed or damaged.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that disease outbreaks, malnutrition and non-communicable diseases are rising in war-torn Sudan, with devastating consequences for millions of people forced to flee their homes in the face of escalating violence. Since conflict erupted April 15, some 6 million people have become displaced inside Sudan or have sought refuge in neighboring countries.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warn that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hotspots – comprising a total of 22 countries or territories including two regions – during the period from November 2023 to April 2024.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has announced Wednesday that the number of people displaced by war, persecution, violence and human rights violations globally is estimated at more than 114 million at the end of September. According to a new UNHCR report, the main drivers of forced displacement in the first half of 2023 were: war in Ukraine and conflicts in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar; a combination of drought, floods and insecurity in Somalia; and a prolonged humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
The Humanitarian Coordinator in Chad, Violette Kakyomya, warned on Monday that the country is facing multiples humanitarian crises and called for urgent support. The conflict in Sudan is having a strong impact on neighboring Chad, with nearly 490,000 Sudanese refugees – mostly women and children – having crossed the border into the eastern part of the Sahel country to seek safety. In total, there are currently one million refugees living in Chad.
Six months of war have plunged Sudan into one of the worst "humanitarian nightmares" in recent history, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, said on Sunday, calling on the warring parties to uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law, and urging donors to step up their support. He also highlighted the growing need for humanitarian assistance in neighboring countries, to which more than a million people have already fled.
The displacement crisis prompted by ongoing conflict in Sudan continues unabated, with nearly six million people forced out of their homes and women and children making up nearly 90 percent of those uprooted, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Wednesday. On Thursday, the international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said that six months into the war in Sudan, people's lives are still in danger from bombings, shelling and shootings, while the country's health system is on the edge of collapse.
A hunger emergency is looming on the border between South Sudan and Sudan as families fleeing fighting in Sudan continue to cross the border every day, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Tuesday. New data shows that among the nearly 300,000 people who have arrived in South Sudan in the last five months, one in five children are malnourished and 90 percent of families say they are going multiple days without eating.
According to the United Nations, large numbers of children are dying every month from malnutrition, measles and diarrhea, and other preventable diseases in Sudan, where armed conflict has displaced more than 5.3 million people from their homes. Between May 15 and September 14, at least 1,200 children under the age of five died from a deadly combination of a suspected measles outbreak and high malnutrition in nine camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Sudan's White Nile state alone.
Amid the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sudan, the heads of over 50 human rights and humanitarian organizations have sounded the alarm and called for more aid, solidarity and attention to the Sudan Crisis. In an open letter published Wednesday, the leaders of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) also urged the United Nations Security Council (UN SC) to act. Meanwhile, the UN SC heard briefings on the ongoing atrocities in the country and those responsible for committing them.
The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), alongside 64 humanitarian and national civil society organizations, has appealed Monday for US$1 billion to provide essential humanitarian aid and protection to over 1.8 million people expected to arrive in five neighboring countries by the end of 2023, fleeing ongoing conflict in Sudan. One million refugees, returnees and foreign nationals have already crossed borders into the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
Four months into the war in Sudan, humanitarian leaders are highlighting the devastating impact the brutal conflict has had on millions of people whose lives have been destroyed and whose basic human rights have been violated. In a statement issued Tuesday, they called on the parties to the conflict to end the fighting, protect civilians and give humanitarian organizations unfettered access to all people in need in all areas of the country.
United Nations agencies warn that hunger in conflict-ridden Sudan has reached record levels, with more than 20.3 million people across the country, over 42 percent of the population, facing acute hunger, including 6.3 million who are “one step away from famine.” According to the latest IPC food assessment in Sudan, the number of people projected to be food insecure between July and September has nearly doubled from the last analysis, conducted in May 2022.
A senior United Nations official has called Wednesday for a negotiated solution to the conflict in Sudan, saying there is no alternative. Meanwhile, UN agencies warn health conditions are deteriorating in Sudan and neighboring countries as growing numbers of people flee escalating fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has raised a dire warning about the escalating food crisis in Sudan Wednesday as more than 20 million people are facing hunger and close to 4 million people have been displaced as a result of the conflict. Meanwhile, the international human rights organization Amnesty International (AI) said in a new report Thursday, that extensive war crimes are being committed in Sudan as the conflict between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) ravages the country.
A group of Sudanese rights and professional bodies has accused both warring parties in Sudan of committing atrocities that could be prosecuted as war crimes and crimes against humanity. In a petition addressed to United Nations Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres, the coalition called for an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned on Thursday that health threats are surging as the war in Sudan escalates and millions of people, many sick and wounded, flee for safety within Sudan and across borders to neighboring countries where health services are fragile and hard to reach. The war, which erupted more than three months ago between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), is not contained within the country but has profound regional implications.
Monday marks another grim milestone in the conflict in Sudan. Since the fighting started 100 days ago, thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, and millions displaced as a result of the nightmarish violence that broke out. UN agencies and international humanitarian organizations around the world today called attention to the plight of the people of Sudan and demanded action to end the war and improve the humanitarian response to the crisis.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF, Doctors Without Borders) warned Friday that it may end operations in Sudan at a hospital in the capital, Khartoum, after 18 of its workers were “aggressively assaulted,” as the conflict entered its fourth month this week. MSF said the incident happened while the team was moving medical supplies from the organization’s warehouse to the Turkish Hospital in the Sudanese capital.
The bodies of at least 87 ethnic Masalit and others allegedly killed last month by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allied militia in Sudan’s West Darfur state have been buried in a mass grave outside the capital El-Geneina, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said Thursday. Volker Türk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, has called on the RSF leadership immediately and unequivocally to condemn and stop the killing of people, and to end violence and hate speech against people on the basis of their ethnicity.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has condemned the air strike in the Sudanese city of Omdurman on Saturday, which reportedly killed at least 22 people, and left dozens injured. Guterres “remains deeply concerned that the ongoing war between the armed forces has pushed Sudan to the brink of a full-scale civil war, potentially destabilizing the entire region”, according to his spokesman.
Senior United Nations officials today voiced shock and condemnation at increasing reports of gender-based violence (GBV) in Sudan – including conflict-related sexual violence against internally displaced and refugee women and girls – since clashes erupted in the country in mid-April. Fighting in Sudan has now entered its 12th week, with no end in sight after multiple failed ceasefire attempts.
Leading United Nations agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO), warn that millions of people in the greater Horn of Africa are trapped in an emergency hunger and health crisis driven by overlapping disasters, including climate change and conflict. WHO’s Greater Horn of Africa region includes the seven affected countries of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has called on the leadership of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to immediately condemn and stop the killing of people fleeing El-Geneina in Sudan’s West Darfur state. The UN human rights office (OHCHR) said it was gravely concerned at reports of “wanton killings” by “Arab” militia backed by the paramilitary RSF, primarily targeting men from the Masalit community.