The ongoing war in Sudan is the most ignored global crisis of 2025, a survey of 22 international humanitarian organizations found this week. The war-ravaged country also ranked first in the International Rescue Committee’s list of “10 Crises the World Cannot Ignore in 2026.”.
Over the course of 2025, the situation in the African country has continued to deteriorate since the war began in April 2023. At that time, there were clashes between the generals of the paramilitary Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (FAR or RSF) over the integration of the paramilitary forces into the national army. Since then, Sudan, an oil and gold-rich country with vast agricultural land, has become what the UN and other humanitarian organizations call the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis.
According to the United Nations, around 14 million people remain displaced in Sudan and neighboring countries. The estimated number of deaths is between 40,000 and 250,000 people. More accurate or updated figures are not available as fighting continues, internet and satellite communications are limited, and many humanitarian organizations and observers have left the country.
“The Sudan crisis should be on the front page every day,” Abdurahman Sharif, humanitarian director at Save the Children, said in a statement.
New hotspot: Kordofan
Meanwhile, fighting between the FAR and SAF is focused on the Kordofan region, where the Sudanese army maintains control of several towns surrounded by the FAR’s paramilitary militia.
Kordofan is also the final region separating the army-controlled areas in the north and center, including the Sudanese capital Khartoum, from the Far Arab Emirates-controlled areas in western Darfur and parts of the south. “The violence in Kordofan has increased dramatically recently,” confirms Jan Sebastian Friedrich-Rust, managing director of the German branch of the NGO Action Against Hunger.
“The siege of the communities of Dilling and Kadugli (in South Kordofan) is blocking access to vital humanitarian aid,” Friedrich-Rust told DW. People have nothing to eat and no access to medicine. “Famine has already been declared in El Fasher and Kadugli (in Darfur), and 20 other towns in Darfur and Kordofan are at serious risk of famine by January 2026,” he said.
The serious situation is also reflected in the latest update of the Integrated Food Security Classification (IPC) for Sudan. In mid-December, the IPC estimated that 21.2 million people, almost half of Sudan’s population, were experiencing severe food insecurity. That number is expected to rise as the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced last Friday that it will have to reduce rations in Sudan to the “absolute minimum survival level” from January due to a lack of funding.
Civilians at the center of the war
Action Against Hunger’s Friedrich-Rust also fears that Kordofan is on the verge of becoming a second El Fasher, where the RSF committed mass atrocities when it seized power in November.
Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Laboratory (HRL), which uses satellite imagery to monitor atrocities, warned in a new report that FAR militias had “destroyed and concealed evidence of their widespread mass killings.” Of the 150 groups of objects compatible with human remains that HRL originally identified, nearly 60 are no longer visible. According to HRL, eight terrain changes instead occurred near the locations where the mass killings occurred.
“The reality is that both parties to the conflict and their allies have not only failed to protect civilians, but attacks against them are at the core of their war,” Philippe Dam, EU advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, told DW. “Although most sexual violence, attacks on hospitals and aid workers, and the use of explosive weapons in densely populated areas are the responsibility of the FAR, the SAF also commits mass violations against the civilian population,” he said.
For example, the SAF has increased mass arrests of people suspected of collaborating with or supporting the FAR, Dam told DW. These arrests appeared to be extremely arbitrary as humanitarian workers were among those detained, he warned. “We have also received reports of numerous deaths in SAF-run prisons and we are seeing death sentences being handed out again,” Dam said, raising the alarm.
In his opinion, it is time for the EU to step up its action and take strong action. He also calls on the EU to deal with those supporting the conflict. While the Sudanese armed forces are mainly supported by Egypt, the FAR is reportedly supported by the United Arab Emirates, although Abu Dhabi denies any involvement.
EU aid is not enough
In December, the EU began airlifting 100 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Sudan’s Darfur region. According to the Commission, the airlift will be completed in January 2026 and will cost 3.5 million euros ($4.1 million), funded by the EU humanitarian aid budget.
Jan Sebastian Friedrich-Rust from Action Against Hunger welcomes the initiative, but warns that it is only a drop in the ocean. “The need for aid is enormous, but so far only 35% of the financial resources needed for humanitarian aid have been made available,” he told DW.
(mn/lgc)
About The Author
