As the civil war enters its second year, Sudan’s two warring parties—the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the powerful paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—remain locked in a deadly power struggle.
The army, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the RSF, led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, are battling for control of the state and its resources.
Since the conflict began on 15 April 2023, almost 15,000 people have been killed, and more than 8.2 million have been displaced, according to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations, making it the worst displacement crisis in the world.
Nearly two million displaced Sudanese have fled to unstable areas in Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Almost all need humanitarian assistance.
Mediation efforts have failed as both parties have refused to meet or to end the fighting. To make matters worse, regional and international actors have taken sides in the war.
The UN says more than 25 million Sudanese now need aid. A failing harvest in Sudan, coupled with the inability to distribute food supplies, has triggered the “world’s largest hunger crisis.”
Timmo Gaasbeek, a food security expert who has worked in Sudan, expects that by September, around 70% of the population could be extremely hungry, resulting in up to 2.5 million deaths due to starvation.
