
Sudan faces deepening crisis as civil war hits two-year mark
Sudan is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis two years into a brutal civil war, marked by escalating atrocities and widespread famine.
The conflict, described by the UN as the world's worst humanitarian emergency, has reached a critical juncture following a recent shift in the fighting.
In March, the Sudanese military regained control of the capital, Khartoum, from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). This victory, however, has not brought peace but instead pushed the conflict into a dangerous new phase, raising fears of a potential division of the country.
Over the weekend, the violence intensified as RSF fighters and allied militias attacked two refugee camps in the Darfur region, leaving at least 300 dead.
The besieged Zamzam and Abu Shouk camps, home to around 700,000 displaced Sudanese, are now grappling with famine conditions, further exacerbated by the ongoing fighting that prevents aid workers from reaching those in desperate need.
The humanitarian situation is dire, with half of Sudan 's population of 50 million facing hunger. The World Food Program has confirmed famine in 10 locations and warned of its potential spread, putting millions at risk of starvation.
Kashif Shafique, country director for Relief International Sudan, the last aid organisation operating in the Zamzam camp, stressed the urgency of the situation.
"This abominable conflict has continued for two years too long," he said, following the deaths of nine of his colleagues in the RSF attack.
Mr Shafique called for international pressure to secure a ceasefire, emphasizing the critical need for immediate action.
"Every moment we wait, more lives hang in the balance,"he warned.
"Humanity must prevail."
Here is what is happening as the war marks its second anniversary on Tuesday.
Carving up Sudan
The war erupted on April 15, 2023, with pitched battles between the military and the RSF in the streets of Khartoum that quickly spread to other parts of the country.
It was the culmination of months of tension between the head of the military, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the RSF's commander, Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. The two were once allies in suppressing Sudan's movement for democracy and civilian rule but turned on each other in a struggle for power.
The fighting has been brutal. Large parts of Khartoum have been wrecked. Nearly 13 million people have fled their homes, 4 million of them streaming into neighboring countries. At least 20,000 people have been recorded killed, but the true toll is probably far higher.
Both sides have been accused of atrocities, and the RSF fighters have been notorious for attacking villages in Darfur, carrying out mass killings of civilians and rapes of women.
The military's recapture of Khartoum in late March was a major symbolic victory. It allowed Mr Burhan to return to the capital for the first time since the war started and declare a new government, boosting his standing.
But experts say the RSF consolidated its hold on the areas it still controls — a vast stretch of western and southern Sudan, including the Darfur and Kordofan regions. The military holds much of the north, east and centre.
'The reality on the ground already resembles a de facto partition,' said Federico Donelli, an assistant professor of international relations at Università di Trieste in Italy.
Mr Donelli said it's possible the two sides could seek a ceasefire now. But more likely, he said, the military will keep trying to move on RSF-held territory.
Neither side appears able to defeat the other.
'Both parties are suffering from combat fatigue,' said Suliman Baldo, director of the Sudan Transparency and Policy Tracker.
The RSF is weakened by internal fissures and 'lacks political legitimacy within the country,' said Sharath Srinivasan, professor of international politics at Cambridge University.
But it has strong access to weapons and resources, bolstered by support from the United Arab Emirates, Chad, Uganda, Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia, he said.
'Without understanding the complex regional geopolitics of this war, it is easy to underplay the RSF's resilience and ability to strike back,' said Mr Srinivasan, author of When Peace Kills Politics: International Intervention and Unending Wars in the Sudans.
Famine is deepening
Hundreds of thousands of people trapped by the fighting face hunger and starvation. So far, the epicentre of famine has been in the North Darfur province and particularly the Zamzam camp. The RSF has been besieging the camp as it wages an offensive on El Fasher, the regional capital and the last main position of the military in the Darfur region.
Amna Suliman, a mother of four living in the camp, said people have resorted to eating grass and tree leaves.
'We have no choice,' she said in a recent phone interview. 'We live in fear, with no communication, no food, and no hope.'
Since famine was first declared in Zamzam in August, it has spread to other parts of the province and nearby South Kordofan province.
The WFP warned this week that 17 other locations will also soon fall into famine – including other parts of the Darfur region but also places in central and south Sudan – because aid workers cannot reach them.
'The situation is very dire,' said Adam Yao, deputy representative of the UN Food and Agricultural Agency in Sudan.
Already, at least 25 million people, more than half of the country's population, face acute hunger, including 638,000 who face catastrophic hunger, the most dire rating used by aid agencies, according to the WFP. Some 3.6 million children are acutely malnourished.
The needs everywhere are huge
In other areas, the military's capture of territory allowed aid groups to reach refugees and displaced people who have been largely cut off from aid for two years.
Sudan has been hit by multiple outbreaks of cholera, malaria and dengue in the past two years. The latest cholera outbreak in March killed about 100 people and sickened over 2,700 others in the White Nile province, according to the Health Ministry.
The economy has been decimated, with a 40 per cent drop in GDP, according to the United Nations' Development Program, UNDP. Full-time employment has been halved and almost 20 per cent of urban households reported that they have no income at all, it said.
At the same time, UN agencies and aid groups have faced funding cuts from major donors, including the United States. Only 6.3 per cent of the $4.2 billion required for humanitarian assistance in Sudan this year has been received as of March, said Clementine Nkweta-Salami, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Sudan.
'The reductions come at a time when the needs in Sudan have never been greater, with more than half of the population hungry and famine spreading,' she said.
About 400,000 people managed to return to their hometowns in areas retaken by the military around Khartoum and nearby Gezira province, according to the UN migration agency.
Many found their homes destroyed and looted. They depend largely on local charities for food.
Abdel-Raham Tajel-Ser, a father of three children, returned in February to his neighborhood in Khartoum's sister city of Omdurman after 22 months of displacement.
The 46-year-old civil servant said he found his house, which had been occupied by the RSF, severely damaged and looted.
'It was a dream,' he said of his return, adding that his life in the largely destroyed neighborhood with almost no electricity or communications is 'much better than living as a refugee or a displaced person'.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Daily Mirror
40 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Greta 'mistreated and mocked' by dancing Israeli officials before deportation
French doctor Bapiste Andre was on 'freedom flotilla' with Greta Thunberg - he said the group were subject to 'mockery' when they were intercepted by Israeli officials An activist on the 'freedom flotilla' boat with Greta Thunberg has said the latter was mistreated by Israeli officials. There "were acts of mistreatment" according to Baptiste Andre, who spoke to French media after the group of 12 were brought to the port of Ashdod. Mr Andre, a doctor, said there were 'no acts of physical violence', but that they were subject to sleep deprivation and 'mockery' by Israeli officials. He said this was 'especially' focussed on Ms Thunberg. 'As soon as [ Thunberg ] fell asleep, the immigration services came to wake her up' he claimed, adding that music was turned loud and members of the immigration services 'danced in front of us'. Adding there was some difficulty for the detainees in gaining access to food, water and toilets, Andre said: 'It took three hours to get a piece of bread.' On X, the Israeli foreign ministry said: 'The passengers of the 'Selfie Yacht' arrived at Ben Gurion Airport to depart from Israel and return to their home countries. Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave Israel will be brought before a judicial authority.' Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said Thunberg was party to ' Instagram activism'. Israeli officials have received criticism after calling the group anti-semitic amid their attempts to bring food to people in Gaza. The UN has warned Gaza's population is at risk of famine. Ms Thunberg was one of 12 passengers on the Madleen, a ship carrying aid to Gaza. Israeli naval forces seized the boat without incident early on Monday about 125 miles off of Gaza's coast, according to the coalition, which along with rights groups, said Israel's actions were a violation of international law. Israel rejects that charge because it says such ships intend to breach what it argues is a lawful naval blockade of Gaza. Speaking upon arrival at Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, Ms Thunberg called for the release of the other activists who were detained aboard the Freedom Flotilla. She described a 'quite chaotic and uncertain' situation during the detention. The activist added the conditions they faced 'are absolutely nothing compared to what people are going through in Palestine and especially Gaza right now'. 'We were well aware of the risks of this mission,' Ms Thunberg added. 'The aim was to get to Gaza and to be able to distribute the aid.' She said the activists would continue trying to get aid to Gaza.


Sky News
4 hours ago
- Sky News
UK backs UN treaty to stop oceans becoming the 'wild west'
A new treaty to govern international waters is "tantalisingly close" after countries - including Britain - promised to sign it into law. The British government said this week that it will introduce legislation by the end of the year to ratify the UN High Seas Treaty, following a recent surge in support from other countries to do the same. At present, remote waters, which make up nearly two-thirds of the world's oceans, are largely lawless and are vulnerable to over-fishing, climate change, the threat of deep-sea mining and geo-engineering. Prince William on Sunday said protecting the planet's oceans was a challenge "like none we have faced before" after teaming up with Sir David Attenborough to discuss the plight of the vital resource. The High Seas Treaty was agreed by 193 countries two years ago, but cannot come into force unless 60 countries ratify it. This week at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, countries ratifying it passed 50, bringing what could be the first legally binding agreement on protecting international waters a step closer. 0:56 "The entry into force is within our sight," UN secretary general Antonio Guterres told reporters on Tuesday. "We do not have a moment to lose." He called the ocean the "lifeblood of our planet", which "feeds the soul". "It produces half of the oxygen we breathe, nourishes billions of people, supports hundreds of millions of jobs, and underpins global trade." Campaigners have called the high seas the "wild west" of the ocean as they are mostly ungoverned, and said a treaty could deliver protection at sea "on a scale we've never seen before". Chris Thorne, Greenpeace UK oceans campaigner, said: "We're tantalisingly close to a huge moment for the planet." Governments that ratify the treaty could be held accountable under their own jurisdictions and at an oceans tribunal, but it would be difficult to force other countries to follow the rules, even if they agreed to the treaty. The drive comes as President Donald Trump pulls the United States and its money out of environmental projects, and as some European governments weaken green policy and overseas aid commitments. The treaty also sets out how countries would share technology, newly discovered resources and funding. It would mean decisions would have to be made collectively through negotiations, rather than by individual countries going it alone. The UK government has previously been criticised by environmentalists for dragging its heels on ratification. The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the treaty would help conserve "rare, valuable and important marine life of the high seas", safeguarding them against unsustainable fishing and industrial activities. Marine minister Emma Hardy said: "Without urgent action, [our oceans] will be irreversibly destroyed." During the conference, which finishes on Friday, the UK government also proposed to extend a ban on bottom trawling to more marine protected areas in English waters.


Reuters
5 hours ago
- Reuters
Funding cuts could harm progress on child labour as world misses key target
GENEVA, June 11 (Reuters) - The world has missed its target of eliminating child labour by 2025 and funding cuts threaten recent progress on reducing the numbers of children in work, a new joint report by two United Nations agencies said on Wednesday. The number of children in work worldwide has almost halved in the past 25 years but nearly 138 million were still involved in child labour in the past year, denied the right to learn and play, the International Labour Organization and UNICEF said. UNICEF's executive director Catherine Russell said funding cuts by donor countries threaten to undermine what she said had been encouraging signs on the issue in the last four years. Reductions in education and livelihood support programmes risk forcing more vulnerable families to send their children to work, she said. "Progress towards ending child labour is possible by applying legal safeguards, expanded social protection, investment in free, quality education... We must recommit to ensuring that children are in classrooms and playgrounds, not at work," Russell said in a statement. U.N. agencies have expressed alarm about the impact of drastic cuts implemented by the Trump administration in U.S. foreign aid, though the ILO-UNICEF report did not explicitly reference this issue. Though there are 22 million fewer children in work since 2020, some 54 million worldwide remain in hazardous work that could harm their health and development, the agencies said. The majority of children work in agriculture, while about a quarter are in services such as domestic work or selling goods in markets. Two-thirds of all child labour takes place in sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for around 87 million children, with only a small reduction from 23.9% to 21.5% over the last four years. "The findings of our report offer hope and show that progress is possible. Children belong in school, not in work... We still have a long way to go before we achieve our goal of eliminating child labour," said ILO Director-General Gilbert F. Houngbo in a statement.