Latest news with #AbdelFattahal-Burhan
Int'l Business Times
2 days ago
- Int'l Business Times
Hundreds Of Sudanese Refugees In Cairo Take Up Chance To Return Home For Free
On a sweltering Monday morning at Cairo's main railway station, hundreds of Sudanese families stood waiting, with bags piled at their feet and children in tow, to board a train bound for a homeland shattered by two years of war. The war is not yet over, but with the army having regained control of key areas and life in Egypt often hard, many refugees have decided now is the time to head home. "It's an indescribable feeling," said Khadija Mohamed Ali, 45, seated inside one of the train's ageing carriages, her five daughters lined beside her. "I'm happy that I'll see my neighbours again -- my family, my street," she told AFP ahead of her return to the capital Khartoum, still reeling from a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 14 million. She was among the second group of refugees travelling under Egypt's voluntary return programme, which offers free transportation from Cairo to Khartoum, more than 2,000 kilometres away by train and bus. The first convoy left a week earlier. The programme is a joint effort between the Egyptian National Railways and Sudan's state-owned arms company Defence Industries System, which is covering the full cost of the journey, including tickets and onward bus travel from Egypt's southern city of Aswan to the Sudanese capital. The Sudanese army is keen for the refugees to return, in part to reinforce its control over recently recaptured areas and as a step towards normality. Each Monday, a third-class, air-conditioned train departs Cairo carrying hundreds on a 12-hour journey to Aswan before they continue by bus across the border. At precisely 11:30 am, a battered locomotive rumbled into the station and women broke into spontaneous ululation. But while some Sudanese are returning home, many continue to flee their homeland, which has been ravaged by war and famine. According to a June report from the UN's refugee agency UNHCR, over 65,000 Sudanese crossed into Chad in just over a month. Crossings through Libya, one of the most dangerous routes to Europe, have increased this year, according to the Mixed Migration Center. The war, which began in April 2023, pits army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan against his erstwhile ally Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The fighting first erupted in Khartoum and quickly spread, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, according to the United Nations. Earlier this year, Sudan's army declared it had fully retaken Khartoum. Since then, a trickle of returnees has begun. Last week, the country's new prime minister, Kamil Idris, made his first visit to the capital since the conflict began, promising that "national institutions will come back stronger than before". The UN has predicted that more than two million people could return to greater Khartoum by the end of the year, though that figure depends heavily on improvements in security and public infrastructure. The capital remains a fractured city. Its infrastructure has been decimated, health services remain scarce and electricity is still largely out in many districts. "Slowly things will become better," said Maryam Ahmed Mohamed, 52, who plans to return to her home in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman with her two daughters. "At least we'll be back at home and with our family and friends," she told AFP. For many, the decision to return home is driven less by hope than by hardship in neighbouring countries like Egypt. Egypt now hosts an estimated 1.5 million Sudanese refugees, who have limited access to legal work, healthcare and education, according to the UNHCR. Hayam Mohamed, 34, fled Khartoum's Soba district with her family to Egypt 10 months ago when the area was liberated, but was in ruins. Though services remain nearly non-existent in Khartoum, Mohamed said she still wanted to leave Egypt and go home. "Life was too expensive here. I couldn't afford rent or school fees," Mohamed said. Elham Khalafallah, a mother of three who spent seven months in Egypt, also said she struggled to cope. She's now returning to the central Al-Jazirah state, which was retaken by the army late last year and is seen as "much safer and having better services than Khartoum". According to the UN's International Organization for Migration, about 71 percent of returnees were heading to Al-Jazirah, southeast of the capital, while fewer than 10 percent were going to Khartoum. Just outside the Cairo station, dozens more were sitting on benches, hoping for standby tickets. "They told me the train was full," said Maryam Abdullah, 32, who left Sudan two years ago with her six children. "But I'll wait. I just want to go back, rebuild my house, and send my children back to school," she told AFP. The journeys are being paid for by a state-owned Sudanese arms company AFP Life has proved hard for many refugees in Egypt, where they struggle to find work AFP The capital Khartoum and the central Al-Jazirah state hvae both been restored to army control AFP
Al-Ahram Weekly
4 days ago
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
More than 1.3 million return to homes in Sudan: UN - War in Sudan
More than 1.3 million people who fled the fighting in Sudan have headed home, the United Nations said, pleading for greater international aid to help returnees rebuild shattered lives. Over a million internally displaced people (IDPs) have returned to their homes in recent months, UN agencies said. A further 320,000 refugees have crossed back into Sudan this year, mainly from neighbouring Egypt and South Sudan. While fighting has subsided in the "pockets of relative safety" that people are beginning to return to, the situation remains highly precarious, the UN said. Since April 2023, Sudan has been torn apart by a power struggle between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The fighting has killed tens of thousands. The RSF lost control of the capital, Khartoum, in March, and the regular army now controls Sudan's centre, north and east. In a joint statement, the UN's IOM migration agency, UNHCR refugee agency and UNDP development agency called for an urgent increase in financial support to pay for the recovery as people begin to return, with humanitarian operations "massively underfunded". Sudan has 10 million IDPs, including 7.7 million forced from their homes by the current conflict, they said. More than four million have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. 'Living nightmare' Sudan is "the largest humanitarian catastrophe facing our world and also the least remembered", the IOM's regional director Othman Belbeisi, speaking from Port Sudan, told a media briefing in Geneva. He said 71 per cent of returns had been to Al-Jazira state, with eight per cent to Khartoum. Other returnees were mostly heading for Sennar state. Both Al-Jazira and Sennar are located southeast of the capital. "We expect 2.1 million to return to Khartoum by the end of this year, but this will depend on many factors, especially the security situation and the ability to restore services," Belbeisi said. With the RSF holding nearly all of the western Darfur region, Kordofan in the south has become the war's main battleground in recent weeks. He said the "vicious, horrifying civil war continues to take lives with impunity", imploring the warring factions to put down their guns. "The war has unleashed hell for millions and millions of ordinary people," he said. "Sudan is a living nightmare. The violence needs to stop." 'Massive' UXO contamination After visiting Khartoum and the Egyptian border, Mamadou Dian Balde, the UNHCR's regional refugee coordinator for the Sudan crisis, said people were coming back to destroyed public infrastructure, making rebuilding their lives extremely challenging. Those returning from Egypt were typically coming back "empty-handed", he said, speaking from Nairobi. Luca Renda, UNDP's resident representative in Sudan, warned of further cholera outbreaks in Khartoum if broken services were not restored. "What we need is for the international community to support us," he said. Renda said around 1,700 wells needed rehabilitating, while at least six Khartoum hospitals and at least 35 schools needed urgent repairs. He also sounded the alarm on the "massive" amount of unexploded ordnance littering the city and the need for decontamination. He said anti-personnel mines had also been found in at least five locations in Khartoum. "It will take years to fully decontaminate the city," he said, speaking from Port Sudan. Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Mada
5 days ago
- Politics
- Mada
Sudan Nashra: Burhan orders armed groups out of Khartoum as officials encourage civilians to return Airstrikes kill senior RSF commander in Kordofan Sudanese pound plummets to lowest level since war's outbreak
In a bid to encourage the return of civilians, a committee formed by Transitional Sovereignty Council (TSC) Chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has been tasked with overseeing the withdrawal of all armed factions from Khartoum by early August. The move comes amid mounting concerns over lawlessness and the proliferation of weapons among military-allied factions still active in the capital. Four residents from across Khartoum told Mada Masr there has been a rise in armed looting in their neighborhoods. In western Sudan, and at the height of the rainy season, a cholera outbreak is sweeping through Darfur, where floods have contaminated water sources and triggered new waves of displacement to already-overwhelmed areas. Since early July, dozens have died from the disease and over 1,500 confirmed cases of cholera have been reported. As local medics note the deterioration of facilities' capacity following years of conflict and overcrowding due to displacement, international aid groups are struggling to respond amid security concerns and a severe funding gap. Meanwhile, the Sudanese pound has plunged to its lowest level against foreign currencies since the war broke out, trading at an average of 3,200 to the US dollar on the parallel market. On the battlefield, the military resumed airstrikes this week across the three states of Kordofan, killing a senior Rapid Support Forces (RSF) commander on Wednesday. The military is now amassing forces toward North Kordofan in a bid to retake the city of Bara — a move that, if successful, would pave the way toward advancing on the besieged city of Fasher in North Darfur. *** Amid concerns of security breakdown in Khartoum, Burhan orders armed groups out as officials encourage civilians to return As Sudanese civilians return to a capital city devastated by two years of war, a new committee has been formed by TSC Chair Abdel Fattah al-Burhan to remove armed factions from Khartoum amid mounting concerns over lawlessness and the proliferation of weapons among military-allied factions still active in the capital. Areas such as Karari and Dar Essalam in Omdurman and East Nile in Bahri have seen an uptick in armed robberies and gang-related violence, four residents told Mada Masr. Alongside the TSC-led effort, Prime Minister Kamel Idris also paid his first visit to Khartoum last week since assuming office in May. Touring several neighborhoods, Idris announced a six-month plan to facilitate the return of civilians and government institutions to the city. On the same day, July 18, TSC member Ibrahim Gaber, who chairs the new TSC committee tasked with disarming Khartoum, spoke to crowds in Bahri — one of the three cities that make up Greater Khartoum. Gaber described the committee's aims of reestablishing order and restoring basic services. Trained Interior Ministry forces have already been deployed in the capital and checkpoints have been set up to protect civilians and their property, Gaber said. Burhan has also issued a decree ordering all armed groups to withdraw from the capital within two weeks under the supervision of the military's General Staff, while the committee held its first meeting on Saturday with Idris in attendance. The committee's mandate includes securing the capital, regulating the presence of foreign nationals, restoring disrupted services, rehabilitating infrastructure and identifying new locations for government ministries. The urgency reflects growing alarm over deteriorating security in Khartoum. Two years of war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF have left weapons in the hands of groups that had fought alongside the military prior to its full takeover of Khartoum in May. The groups are now increasingly blamed for fueling lawlessness in the capital. The joint force of military-allied armed movements issued a statement on July 19 denying involvement in looting, theft or intimidation in Khartoum, claiming the crimes were perpetrated by armed men impersonating its fighters. The group said it arrested several gang members and handed them over to the military. Blaming the capital's sprawling geography for hindering police's effectiveness, a security source in Khartoum State told Mada Masr that military-allied forces continue to track remnants of the RSF in several neighborhoods, particularly on the outskirts. The official called on residents to assist security efforts by reporting suspicious activity. Earlier this month, authorities announced a security campaign targeting gangs and looters. Despite the deteriorating security situation, officials say they are moving forward with plans to rebuild Khartoum amid the gradual return of displaced residents. Idris held a press conference at the Cabinet's headquarters on Sunday, urging citizens to return to Khartoum, and staking out key priorities, including restored access to water and electricity, improving security and livelihoods, and reopening the Khartoum International Airport. Khartoum has seen slight improvements in services in recent weeks. Authorities announced the partial restoration of water supply from several key stations after months of outages. But the electricity sector remains badly hit. Nearly 90 percent of the power infrastructure has been destroyed, an engineer in the Sudan Electricity Holding Company told Mada Masr. Some major hospitals have resumed operations, though most are hampered by severe shortages in medicine and medical equipment. More than 50 bridges and key public facilities have been damaged, according to Zuelfaqqar Ali, general secretary of the Supreme Council for Human Development and Labor, who told Mada Masr that the cost of rebuilding them is expected to run into the billions of Sudanese pounds. The Sudanese Defense Industries Organization sponsored last week the return of around 1,000 Sudanese citizens from Egypt, one of a number of initiatives seeking to incentivize return since April. The governor of Khartoum has also called on citizens to return and contribute to the reconstruction efforts — though many residents of Khartoum have flagged that basic services restrict their ability to survive in the city. *** Airstrikes kill senior RSF commander in Kordofan as military prepares push toward Bara The SAF carried out a series of airstrikes on strategic positions in the Kordofan region this week, killing a senior RSF commander, as the military ramps up preparations for a ground offensive to retake the city of Bara in North Kordofan, according to military sources who spoke to Mada Masr. Since the military regained Khartoum State in May, the main battleground has shifted westward to the states of North, South and West Kordofan. Taj Youssef Folajang, a senior RSF commander and leader of the unit known as Group 13, was killed on Wednesday in the city of Abu Zabad, West Kordofan, when a drone strike hit a meeting of RSF field leaders, according to a military source who spoke to Mada Masr. Several RSF vehicles were also destroyed in the attack. The source said the drone strikes are part of a broader preemptive strategy which seeks to weaken the RSF ahead of upcoming ground operations. The strikes targeted warehouses, combat vehicles and command points across all three Kordofan states. Folajang fought with the RSF since the outbreak of the war in April 2023, playing a key role in major operations in southern Khartoum, including attacks on the Central Reserve Forces, the Armored Corps and the Signal Corps in Bahri, east of the capital. He sustained an injury during clashes in late 2024 that led to the amputation of his leg. After his injury, Folajang returned to Kordofan to oversee RSF operations in Babanusa. A member of the Messiria tribe, he was considered one of the RSF's most influential commanders and enjoyed wide support among its ranks. An RSF field source told Mada Masr that tensions briefly flared among commanders in Abu Zabad following Folajang's death, with some exchanging accusations of complicity in his killing. The military's drones also struck an RSF site in the city of Fula, West Kordofan, on Monday, according to another military source who spoke to Mada Masr. In addition to the strike that killed the RSF commander in Abu Zabad, another targeted combat vehicles on Wednesday, while a separate drone attack scattered fighters preparing to launch an assault on the Um Samima area, west of Obeid in North Kordofan, the source said. The following day, several strikes hit RSF positions in Debeibat, South Kordofan, according to the source. Meanwhile, the military is bolstering its ground presence around Bara in preparation for an assault to retake the city. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in RSF raids in the Bara locality in recent weeks. According to the second military source, special operations units have been deployed to the area, joining reinforcements from the General Intelligence Service's elite forces and Abu Agla Keikel's Sudan Shield Forces, which arrived last week. A former military officer told Mada Masr that fighting in Kordofan is expected to drag on, as the RSF continues to mobilize forces to block any military advance toward Darfur — the paramilitary group's main stronghold and command hub. An RSF collapse in Kordofan, the source said, would likely lead to an unraveling of its hold on Darfur. But so far, the military has 'inflicted significant losses on the RSF in Kordofan through airstrikes and direct clashes,' the former officer said, adding that the military has employed a range of tactics to wear their forces down. These include launching attacks, pulling back to regroup, and striking again, while simultaneously reinforcing their positions in preparation for a decisive blow to the RSF's core in Kordofan, according to the officer. Current operations are also focused on targeting RSF leadership through drone surveillance, intelligence networks and special forces, the former officer said. Eliminating one of their commanders, they added, has an immediate impact: it paralyzes their forces, weakens morale and sparks internal rifts. The officer expects clashes to escalate around Bara over the next two weeks. Once retaken, the military would likely move toward Fasher via the northern route through Gabra al-Sheikh and Mazroub, advancing into Darfur, they said. *** Cholera kills 94 as disease sweeps across Darfur amid heavy rains Cholera has spread across the Darfur region in recent weeks, killing dozens, as flooding combines with protracted armed conflict and a collapsing health system to further complicate emergency response efforts. The spike in cases accompanies the peak of the rainy season, with heavy downpours since early July causing widespread flooding to contaminate water sources. At the same time, the flooding has triggered new waves of displacement and worsened conditions in already overcrowded camps, where limited access to clean water and sanitation has allowed the disease to spread rapidly. In North Darfur's Tawila locality — which has absorbed a steady flow of displaced people from Fasher and nearby camps following the RSF's deadly takeover of the Zamzam camp in April — 59 people died of cholera in the second week of July, said Tasneem al-Amin of the Sudan Doctors Network. Amin told Mada Masr that 1,331 cholera cases were recorded in the same week, including 793 men, 538 women and 278 children. Many North Darfurian villages lack health facilities equipped to deal with the outbreak and access to safe drinking water, she said. In South Darfur, over 40 cholera deaths, mostly children and elderly people, were recorded in the first week of July alongside 500 cases of cholera, three medical sources from displacement camps told Mada Masr. The outbreak exposes the fragile state of public infrastructure in Darfur — a crisis that long predates the current war. Years of neglect have left many communities reliant on open, unprotected wells. Repeated waves of violence have also forced thousands into camps with no proper hygiene systems. In West Darfur, ongoing armed clashes between the RSF and armed groups — part of the RSF's broader security campaign to impose control in the area — have also blocked medical relief teams from reaching affected communities. Residents in several areas across the state are relying on rainwater collected in hand-dug pits for drinking, a source in West Darfur told Mada Masr. The region's already overstretched health system is also critically short on the intravenous fluids and antibiotics needed to treat severe cholera cases. Healthcare providers in Darfur are working under grueling conditions with limited resources, a doctor in Fasher told Mada Masr. 'But their efforts are not enough against an outbreak of this scale,' they said, calling for urgent, large-scale international support. 'This isn't just a passing health crisis,' the doctor added. 'It's a stark indicator of a broader collapse in the region's humanitarian conditions, one that requires a comprehensive solution addressing the root causes of the crisis, from the provision of clean drinking water to achieving political and security stability in the region.' Khadiga Moussa, a health official from the Darfur regional government, told Mada Masr that emergency response teams from the World Health Organization and Médecins Sans Frontieres are working to establish temporary treatment units and distribute disinfection supplies, but their efforts are constrained by logistical challenges and mounting security risks that restrict access to key outbreak zones. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is also involved in prevention efforts, distributing water purification tablets and soap and conducting hygiene awareness campaigns, Moussa said. These efforts face a significant funding gap, however. The UN's humanitarian coordination agency says only 16 percent of the funding needed for the cholera response has been secured, threatening to halt critical interventions even as the rainy season continues and temperatures rise — ideal conditions for further spread. A cholera outbreak was declared in Sudan in 2024, with a spike in cases recorded in Khartoum earlier this year. This surge occurred as civilians returned to the capital after the SAF had regained control of the city two years into the war. *** Sudanese pound plummets amid rapid economic collapse The Sudanese pound recorded a steep decline this week, falling to new lows as the war, now in its third year, continues to erode confidence in the country's economy. On Wednesday, the pound was trading at an average of 3,200 to the US dollar on the parallel market, dropping by nearly 500 over just a few days, according to a source at the Central Bank of Sudan who spoke to Mada Masr. The decline marks a depreciation of over 453 percent in the value of the Sudanese pound over the past two years. The pound stood at around 578.57 to the dollar in early 2023. Official rates posted by several commercial banks kept the pound at around 2,250 to the dollar, while the Bank of Khartoum listed it at 2,400 pounds on Thursday, up from 2,140 on Tuesday. But the gap between official and parallel rates reflects waning public trust in the banking sector. Hitting the pound's value is a halt in foreign remittances and the withdrawal of deposits held in domestic banks. Traders are increasingly turning away from domestic banks too, with importers unable to obtain Sudanese-backed credit. The central bank's increasing reliance on printing unbacked currency has also driven inflation higher and accelerated dollarization, as more people turn away from the national currency. At the same time, currency is hard to come by on the parallel market. A trader in the export sector told Mada Masr that surging demand for dollars from both companies and individuals has led currency dealers in the parallel market to stop selling and instead hold on to foreign currency, anticipating the pound to depreciate further with time. The result has redoubled the strain on trade. Meanwhile, inflation has compounded as citizens return to areas of Sudan recaptured by the military — particularly Khartoum — driving up demand for imported goods and fuel, thus increasing demand for foreign currency.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
01-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
How civil wars in Sudan and South Sudan jeopardise Africa's security
Without meaningful intervention, both Sudan and South Sudan risk becoming the epicentre of the next great African crisis read more The ongoing civil wars in Sudan and South Sudan are among the most complex and interconnected conflicts in the world today. Though distinct in their origins and dynamics, they are increasingly intertwined. This convergence is not merely a matter of geographical proximity as it involves shared actors, overlapping interests, and a complex web of alliances and enmities that transcend national borders, threatening to spill over into a larger regional war that could destabilise the entire region and beyond. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Sudan: A War of Attrition and Collapse The conflict in Sudan erupted in April 2023 when two former allies, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, popularly known as Hemedti, turned against each other. Initially centred in the capital, Khartoum, the conflict quickly spread nationwide, morphing into a grinding war of attrition. As each side continues to try to gain an advantage by seizing natural resources and cutting supply lines, the consequences of this war have been catastrophic for the civilians. More than 150,000 people have been killed, and over 12.5 million displaced. Half the country faces severe food insecurity, while over 30 million people need humanitarian aid. The health system is near total collapse, with diseases spreading and medical infrastructure in ruins. Sudan now constitutes the locus of one of the world's most extensive and acute displacement and humanitarian crises. The international community has so far failed to broker peace. Mediation efforts from the US and Saudi Arabia in Jeddah could not produce any outcome, so as negotiations initiated by Egypt, the UAE, and Switzerland. External actors, often with competing agendas and support for different factions, have only added to the chaos. South Sudan: Fragile Peace and Rising Tensions Meanwhile, South Sudan, the world's youngest country, is facing the imminent risk of a resurgence in civil war. The 2013-18 conflict between President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar caused immense devastation and displacement. Although the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict (R-ARCSS) was signed in 2018, peace has remained elusive. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The fragile unity government formed under the R-ARCSS agreement has repeatedly postponed national elections. Tensions have risen dramatically since early 2025 following a series of cabinet reshuffles, arrests of opposition figures, and the house arrest of Vice President Machar. Clashes in Upper Nile, Bahr El-Ghazal, and Equatoria regions have raised fears of another full-scale conflict. The humanitarian crisis in South Sudan is also exacerbated by climate change, economic instability, and an influx of refugees from Sudan. Currently, the peace process is under immense strain, with both the Tumaini Peace Initiative and the 2018 peace deal stalled. Convergence of Two Conflicts and its Regional Implications Amidst this, the most alarming development is the growing entanglement between these two wars of Sudan and South Sudan. The February 2025 alliance between Sudan's RSF and South Sudan's SPLM-North (SPLM-N) represents a pivotal moment, setting the stage for a pan-regional conflagration. SPLM-N controls large swaths of South Kordofan, and Blue Nile states adjacent to the South Sudan border. This alliance opens up new logistical and military corridors for the RSF, allowing them to smuggle arms and supplies through South Sudan and Ethiopia. In response, the Sudanese army (SAF) has begun arming the South Sudanese militias, known as the White Army, to counter this alliance, creating a proxy war landscape along the 2,000 km shared border. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD If South Sudan collapses into full civil war, the borders between the two countries, already porous and poorly controlled, will become entirely militarised and destabilised. With both Sudanese factions now fostering ties with South Sudanese actors, the boundary between the two wars is blurring. If South Sudan descends into full-scale conflict, the distinction between two civil wars may disappear entirely, creating a regional war. As the region strategically located at the crossroads of the Red Sea and the Sahel with 12-15 per cent of global trade and 20 per cent of global container shipping. If the situation doesn't de-escalate, it would result in significant disruption to global trade through significant increases in shipping costs, longer transit times, and supply chain issues. As a matter of fact, the ramifications of this convergence is already stretched well beyond the two countries' borders, driven by a combination of interrelated factors that exacerbate existing tensions and instability. For instance, Uganda has been actively involved in South Sudan's peace process and has deployed troops to South Sudan's capital Juba to bolster Kiir's government. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ethiopia shares borders with both Sudan and South Sudan and has historical ties to various factions within these countries. Given Ethiopia's own ongoing ethnic conflict in the Tigray region, any escalation in the Blue Nile risks drawing Ethiopia into the conflict, particularly if its border regions become conduits for arms smuggling, rebel activity, or the movement of displaced populations. While not directly involved, Kenya is also concerned about the potential for increased refugee flows and regional instability affecting its security and economic interests. Further, countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Russia are already playing significant roles in these conflicts, whether through the provision of arms, facilitation of gold smuggling, investment in oil infrastructure, or competition over strategic access to the Red Sea. These foreign powers support rival factions within Sudan and South Sudan, contributing to the fragmentation of the conflict and increasing the likelihood of its internationalisation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A Dangerous Path Forward The convergence of the wars in Sudan and South Sudan represents a critical tipping point for the region. As the region is already contending with several challenges, including food insecurity, climate change, and political fragility, it requires urgent and coordinated international action. Furthermore, the intertwining of these two conflicts, fuelled by internal divisions and external interventions, threatens to engulf the region in a broader war with devastating humanitarian consequences. In light of the evolving situation, the international community must prioritise diplomatic engagement, humanitarian assistance, and support for regional peace initiatives to prevent further escalation and work toward a stable and peaceful future for the region. The African Union, the United Nations, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) need to intensify their mediation efforts. Establishing and safeguarding humanitarian corridors is essential to ensure the effective delivery of aid to affected populations. Furthermore, principal stakeholders must prioritise inclusive political solutions and transitional justice mechanisms that address root grievances. Without meaningful intervention, both Sudan and South Sudan risk becoming the epicentre of the next great African crisis, with profound and far-reaching implications for regional and global stability. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Samir Bhattacharya is Associate Fellow at Observer Research Foundation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost's views.
The South African
01-07-2025
- Politics
- The South African
Sudan famine fears rise as UN food aid dries up
The United Nations (UN) funding crisis is contributing to a rise in starvation and malnutrition among millions of refugees in Sudan. The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that there could be a major cutback in the delivery of vital food assistance. Seven neighbouring nations (Central Africa, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, Uganda, and South Sudan) are currently sheltering displaced Sudanese while dealing with this crisis. Extreme food insecurity and a high degree of conflict already exist in many host countries. This funding crisis is currently making the UN's operations extremely challenging. Major donors, including the United States, have significantly reduced their spending on foreign aid. The United States has cut some of its aid funding for the United Nations (Sudan), as well as several other countries. Additionally, other traditional donors, such as Germany and the United Kingdom (UK), have cut back on aid spending. As a result of this, the WFP had to make significant budget cuts. The Armed Forces of Sudan's (SAF) commander, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, is fighting his former subordinate, General Mohamed 'Hemedti' Dagalo. Hemedti leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), embroiled in a power struggle amidst the war in Sudan. Their disagreement centres on when and how to integrate the RSF into the SAF, a crucial step in shifting to civilian rule. Former President Omar al-Bashir established the RSF in 2013, designing its command structure and economic networks to function as an autonomous force that would balance the military and safeguard his government from coups. Existing problems like the collapse of economic funding, climatic crises, and violence have become worse because of this war. The dispute between military chiefs General Burhan and General Dagalo has plunged the country into crisis and chaos. In 2025, Sudan's humanitarian response plan only received 14.4%, or US$599.6 million (R10.9 billion), of the US$4.16 billion (R75.5 billion) needed for all domestic aid. Despite this, over the next six months, the WFP urgently needs an extra US$200 million (roughly R3.6 billion) for its regional refugee response in neighbouring countries. Humanitarian assistance may end if immediate funding is not provided. With the daily influx of refugees, supplies in Chad are running low amidst the crisis. Inside Sudan, over eight million people are on the brink of famine. Acute malnutrition disproportionately affects children, especially during critical periods. The WFP urges the international community to mobilise additional resources. HOW CAN THE UN STOP SUDAN FROM EXPERIENCING THIS CRISIS? Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 11. Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news
