In April 2023, violent clashes erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan, resulting in the displacement of more than 12.5 million people, including internally displaced people (IDPs), asylum seekers and refugees, according to the UNHCR. The civil war exacerbated many of Sudan’s existing challenges, including ongoing conflicts, disease outbreaks, economic and political instability and climate emergencies.
Before the current conflict, Sudan had already been grappling with violence and displacement since the onset of the Darfur crisis in 2003. Sudan was home to more than 1 million refugees—the second-highest refugee population in Africa—most of whom were from South Sudan and Northern Ethiopia, with many fleeing conflict in Tigray.
Half of Sudan’s population—some 25 million people—need humanitarian assistance and protection. The country is facing extreme shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel, and more than half the population is facing acute food insecurity. In August 2024, the Famine Review Committee officially confirmed famine in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The lack of basic necessities, combined with violence and uncertainty, has forced many people to flee their homes. Egypt is hosting the largest number of Sudanese refugees (more than 1.2 million), followed by Chad, South Sudan, Libya, Uganda, and Ethiopia.
Without a resolution to the crisis, hundreds of thousands more people will be compelled to flee in search of refuge and basic assistance.
