Category Archives: Sudan

‘We need the world to wake up’: Sudan facing world’s deadliest famine in 40 years

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Millions face disaster as Sudanese army and RSF accused of using food access as a weapon in on-going war

Sudan is facing a famine that could become worse than any the world has seen since Ethiopia 40 years ago, US officials have warned, as aid deliveries continue to be blocked by the warring armies but arms supplies to both sides continue to flow in.

With much of the world’s attention focused on Gaza, the scene of another human-made famine, Sudan is already the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and is slipping towards a humanitarian disaster of historic proportions, with far less media coverage and global concern. A UN humanitarian appeal for the country has received only 16% of the funds it needs.

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Children trapped in war zones because of UK refusal to ease refugee visa rules

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‘Abject failure’ of family reunion scheme to provide legal route is leaving children at risk of trafficking or even death

Children are being trapped in war zones as a result of “impossible” bureaucratic requirements imposed on one of the few legal routes for asylum seekers, a charity has found.

The government has championed family reunion processes as a means for refugees to safely reunite with loved ones in Britain, but according to a new report by Ramfel, a charity that supports vulnerable migrants, the scheme is “not fit for purpose” and applicants have been abandoned, leaving them at risk of trafficking or even death.

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Conflicts drive number of forcibly displaced people to record high

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Sharp rise, equivalent to population of London, means nearly 120 million have been driven from their homes

The number of people forced out of their homes around the world last year was the equivalent of the population of London, according to the UN’s refugee agency.

The latest annual assessment from the United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) said a sharp rise in the number of people forcibly displaced during 2023 had brought the total to a record high of more than 117 million. Conflicts were largely to blame with many, such as those in Ukraine and Sudan, showing little sign of ending.

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Sudan: last hospital in North Darfur capital closes after paramilitary attack

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MSF says hospital in El Fasher, last state capital not under Rapid Support Forces control, stormed and looted

The last functioning hospital in El Fasher, Darfur, in western Sudan, has been closed after an attack by paramilitaries trying to seize the key city, the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has said.

War has raged for more than a year between the regular military under the army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

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BAT subsidiary lobbies Pakistan to allow export of cigarettes to Sudan

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Exclusive: critics say British American Tobacco’s plan to ‘flood a country in crisis with cheap cigarettes’ is ‘shameful’

A subsidiary of British American Tobacco is lobbying the government of Pakistan to allow it to export 10-packs of cigarettes to war-torn Sudan, prompting criticism from a smoking campaign group.

Pakistan is among more than 80 countries that do not permit the sale or manufacture of 10-packs of cigarettes, which the World Health Organization has said make smoking more affordable for children.

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At least 100 killed after RSF paramilitary group attacks village in Sudan

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Claims of looting as dozens injured during Rapid Support Forces clash with Sudanese army in Gezira province

At least 100 people were killed and dozens more injured after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) attacked a village in Gezira province in Sudan on Wednesday.

Women and children were among the victims in the RSF attacks on Wad al-Noura village in Gezira, Mini Arko Minawi, the governor of Darfur province, said on X.

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EU expected to impose sanctions on six Sudanese military figures fuelling war

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Exclusive: Rivals from two forces fighting to control Darfur region would be subject to asset freezes and travel bans

The EU intends to impose sanctions on six Sudanese military figures who are fuelling the conflict that has led to one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, European diplomats have said.

EU foreign ministers meeting later this month are expected to approve sanctions against six individuals from the rival forces who have been fighting for control of Darfur, the vast, largely arid region of western and south-western Sudan.

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Tens of thousands flee camp in Sudan after attacks by RSF paramilitaries

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Concerns grow that Darfur is facing another genocide as Rapid Support Forces besiege city of El Fasher

Tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in a displacement camp in the city of El Fasher in Sudan’s Darfur region after attacks by the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, as concern grows that Darfur is facing another genocide.

The RSF has besieged the city for weeks, aiming to take the last major population centre in Darfur that it does not control. Hundreds of thousands are sheltering there after fleeing other cities taken by the group over the past year.

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Attacks on health workers in conflict zones at highest level ever – report

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More than 2,500 attacks in 2023, including medics killed and clinics bombed, in war zones such as Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine

Attacks on health workers, hospitals and clinics in conflict zones jumped 25% last year to their highest level on record, a new report has found.

While the increase was largely driven by new wars in Gaza and Sudan, continuing conflicts such as Ukraine and Myanmar also saw such attacks continue “at a relentless pace”, the Safeguarding Health in Conflict coalition said.

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Starlink internet shutdown in Sudan will punish millions, Elon Musk warned

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With a widespread telecoms blackout already in place, emergency help and humanitarian aid at risk if satellite service withdrawn, say NGOs

Nearly 100 humanitarian groups in Sudan have warned Elon Musk he risks “collectively punishing” millions of Sudanese by shutting down his vital Starlink satellite internet service in the war-ravaged country.

Sudan has been grappling with a widespread telecommunications blackout for several months, with many aid groups using Starlink to operate during the humanitarian crisis which the UN has warned is the largest in decades.

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Global violence causing record numbers of internally displaced people

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Conflicts in Gaza, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo have led to a total of 68m IDPs across the world

Conflict has forced more than 68 million people to leave their homes as of the end of 2023 – the highest figure since data became available 15 years ago.

Natural disasters made a further 7.7 million people homeless, pushing the total number of internally displaced people (IDPs) to a record 75.9 million, according to figures published by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre on Tuesday.

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Death, disease and despair as fighting closes in on besieged Sudanese city

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Darfur is on the brink of another disaster as fighting intensifies around El Fasher, the last city in the region not controlled by the Rapid Support Forces

At the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people on the northern fringe of El Fasher in North Darfur, about seven people a day arrive with injuries sustained from nearby clashes between fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and groups allied to the Sudanese army.

For months now the RSF have been besieging El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, trapping a million people in the last major population centre in Sudan’s vast Darfur region not under paramilitary control.

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Children ‘piled up and shot’: new details emerge of ethnic cleansing in Darfur

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As El Fasher stands on the ‘precipice of a massacre’, rights groups call for sanctions after new testimony describes atrocities carried out by RSF paramilitaries in Sudan

Gruesome new testimony details one of the worst atrocities of the year-long Sudanese civil war – the large-scale massacre of civilians as they desperately tried to flee an ethnic rampage in Darfur last summer.

Witnesses describe children, still alive, being “piled up and shot” by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) as they attempted to escape the regional capital of El Geneina in June last year during a bout of ethnic violence in which thousands of civilians were killed.

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‘A colonial mindset’: why global aid agencies need to get out of the way

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With the world’s humanitarian system in crisis, many NGOs now recognise that local charities can deliver much more at far less cost

Before civil war engulfed her Ethiopian home region of Tigray in 2020, Tsega Girma was a prosperous trader who sold stationery and other goods. But when hungry children displaced by the conflict started appearing in the streets, she sold everything and used the proceeds to buy them food.

After that money dried up, Tsega appealed to Tigray’s diaspora for donations. At the height of the war, her Emahoy Tsega Girma Charity Foundation provided meals to 24,000 children a day.

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Essential supplies running out as RSF paramilitary encircles Darfur’s largest city

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The population of El Fasher, which includes thousands of displaced people, is in ‘dire need of food, medicine and water’

Water, food and fuel supplies for people in the largest city in the Darfur region of Sudan are being choked off as fighting intensifies, according to reports.

El Fasher has been encircled by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group over recent weeks, besieging the population as well as the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and allied militias.

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Sudan had largest number of people facing extreme food shortages in 2023, UN report shows

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The African country accounted for two-thirds of the additional 13.5m people needing urgent help as displacement drove food insecurity globally

Sudan had the world’s largest number of people facing extreme food shortages in 2023 as conflict and displacement drove food insecurity globally, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

The war between rival generals meant Sudan accounted for two-thirds of the additional 13.5 million people needing urgent help last year, while conflict also plunged Gaza into the world’s most severe food crisis with its entire population facing high levels of food insecurity.

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Sudan’s forgotten war – podcast

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While conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine have captured global attention, the civil war in Sudan has been largely ignored. That can’t be allowed to continue, says the Guardian’s Nesrine Malik

With so much of the world’s attention on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, one of the worst humanitarian crises of recent times is playing out almost unnoticed. Sudan’s civil war erupted in April 2023 and has led to tens of thousands of civilian deaths and a mass displacement of up to half of the country’s population.

As Nesrine Malik tells Helen Pidd, the battle between the Sudanese Army and rebel militia the Rapid Support Forces is finely balanced, with the effect that neither side has enough strength to win the conflict decisively and so no end is in sight.

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Increasing number of villages torched across Sudan shows conflict is intensifying – report

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Satellite data indicates growing number of airstrikes on settlements, in a war that has already killed thousands

The number of villages in Sudan that have been destroyed or severely damaged by fire has risen sharply in recent weeks, suggesting the country’s conflict is intensifying as it enters its second year.

Satellite data revealed the number of Sudanese settlements set on fire in March increased to 30, the highest monthly total recorded since fighting broke out between the country’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last April.

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Europe: Sudan war ‘world’s worst child displacement crisis,’ Paris conference told – as it happened

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Annalena Baerbock, the German foreign minister, says ‘every life counts equally, whether in Ukraine, in Gaza, or in Sudan’

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, has warned of a further escalation in violence in Sudan.

“The Sudanese people have been subjected to untold suffering during the conflict which has been marked by indiscriminate attacks in densely populated areas, ethnically-motivated attacks, and a high incidence of conflict-related sexual violence. The recruitment and use of children by parties to the conflict are also deeply concerning,” Türk said in a statement today.

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UK Foreign Office holding secret talks with Sudan’s RSF paramilitary group

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Exclusive: Rights groups denounce negotiations with Rapid Support Forces, accused of ethnic cleansing and war crimes

Foreign Office officials are holding secret talks with the paramilitary group that has been waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in Sudan for the past year.

News that the British government and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are engaged in clandestine negotiations has prompted warnings that such talks risk legitimising the notorious militia – which continues to commit multiple war crimes – while undermining Britain’s moral credibility in the region.

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