ANALYSIS
Sudan's forgotten war: three years on, humanitarian catastrophe has no end in sight
Three years into a war that has displaced 11 million people and killed tens of thousands, Sudan’s conflict remains deadlocked, with civilians trapped in a cycle of violence and deprivation and no viable path to peace.
Issued on: 15/04/2026
FRANCE24
Three years into a war that has displaced 11 million people and killed tens of thousands, Sudan’s conflict remains deadlocked, with civilians trapped in a cycle of violence and deprivation and no viable path to peace.
Issued on: 15/04/2026
FRANCE24
By: Mehdi BOUZOUINA
In this file photo, smoke billows after drone strikes by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) targeted the northern port in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan on May 6, 2025. AP
On the third anniversary of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), international donors gathered in Berlin on Wednesday, pledging $1.3 billion in aid. The conference, however, underscored the diplomatic paralysis surrounding the conflict: neither warring party was invited, and Khartoum denounced the meeting as “surprising and unacceptable”.
It followed similar gatherings in Paris and London that failed to yield progress in a pattern that reflects deeper structural obstacles.
“The Sudanese authorities do not accept the idea of placing the RSF on an equal footing in negotiations,” says Christropher Tounsel, associate professor of history at the University of Washington. “For Khartoum, engaging in that format risks legitimising a paramilitary force it considers illegitimate.”
He added that Sudan’s army has remained consistent in its demands that RSF fighters withdraw from territories they control, a precondition that has effectively stalled ceasefire efforts.
For Lucie Revilla, a researcher at France’s CNRS, the stance also reflects a broader dynamic. “The SAF wants to impose itself as the central actor in any negotiation, one you cannot bypass, and they try to monopolise any future solution,” she says.
‘The greatest humanitarian crisis of our time’
On the ground, the scale of suffering contrasts starkly with the limited international attention.
More than 33 million people now require assistance, while nearly half the population faces acute food insecurity. Over 4.5 million have fled to neighbouring countries, including more than one million to Chad alone. The United Nations has appealed for $1.6 billion to support refugees across the region.
Beyond access constraints, humanitarian agencies face a chronic funding shortfall.
While the money raised will provide short-term relief, the scale of needs far exceeds current commitments.
“This is a multi-billion-dollar crisis over years,” Tounsel estimates. “We are talking about displaced populations, children out of school, entire regions devastated.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the situation as “the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, which is not very often in the public eye”.
Violence has intensified in recent months. The United Nations says hundreds of civilians have been killed in drone strikes since January.
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said the third anniversary marked a "tragic milestone" and called for an end to the "nightmare".
WATCH MOREUN warns of ongoing fatal drone strikes on civilians in Sudan's Kordofan
“Both sides are committed to military victory,” says Eric Reeves, a Sudan researcher at Smith College and founder of the NGO Team ZamZam, whch operates at the Chad-Sudan border. “And the level of equipment and sophistication has risen, this is increasingly a drone war, often conducted indiscriminately, especially by the RSF.”
In areas such as South Kordofan, now emerging as a central battleground, civilians face an impossible choice. “Where do you go?” Reeves said. “In many places, there is simply no safe direction left.”
Aid workers targeted
For humanitarian organisations, access is shrinking as needs surge.
“Many people have been displaced again and again,” underlines Laetitia Bader of Human Rights Watch for the Horn of Africa on FRANCE 24. “This is not just a humanitarian crisis, it is a crisis of atrocities, with a complete disregard for civilian lives.”
On the third anniversary of fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), international donors gathered in Berlin on Wednesday, pledging $1.3 billion in aid. The conference, however, underscored the diplomatic paralysis surrounding the conflict: neither warring party was invited, and Khartoum denounced the meeting as “surprising and unacceptable”.
It followed similar gatherings in Paris and London that failed to yield progress in a pattern that reflects deeper structural obstacles.
“The Sudanese authorities do not accept the idea of placing the RSF on an equal footing in negotiations,” says Christropher Tounsel, associate professor of history at the University of Washington. “For Khartoum, engaging in that format risks legitimising a paramilitary force it considers illegitimate.”
He added that Sudan’s army has remained consistent in its demands that RSF fighters withdraw from territories they control, a precondition that has effectively stalled ceasefire efforts.
For Lucie Revilla, a researcher at France’s CNRS, the stance also reflects a broader dynamic. “The SAF wants to impose itself as the central actor in any negotiation, one you cannot bypass, and they try to monopolise any future solution,” she says.
‘The greatest humanitarian crisis of our time’
On the ground, the scale of suffering contrasts starkly with the limited international attention.
More than 33 million people now require assistance, while nearly half the population faces acute food insecurity. Over 4.5 million have fled to neighbouring countries, including more than one million to Chad alone. The United Nations has appealed for $1.6 billion to support refugees across the region.
Beyond access constraints, humanitarian agencies face a chronic funding shortfall.
While the money raised will provide short-term relief, the scale of needs far exceeds current commitments.
“This is a multi-billion-dollar crisis over years,” Tounsel estimates. “We are talking about displaced populations, children out of school, entire regions devastated.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the situation as “the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, which is not very often in the public eye”.
Violence has intensified in recent months. The United Nations says hundreds of civilians have been killed in drone strikes since January.
UN chief Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said the third anniversary marked a "tragic milestone" and called for an end to the "nightmare".
WATCH MOREUN warns of ongoing fatal drone strikes on civilians in Sudan's Kordofan
“Both sides are committed to military victory,” says Eric Reeves, a Sudan researcher at Smith College and founder of the NGO Team ZamZam, whch operates at the Chad-Sudan border. “And the level of equipment and sophistication has risen, this is increasingly a drone war, often conducted indiscriminately, especially by the RSF.”
In areas such as South Kordofan, now emerging as a central battleground, civilians face an impossible choice. “Where do you go?” Reeves said. “In many places, there is simply no safe direction left.”
Aid workers targeted
For humanitarian organisations, access is shrinking as needs surge.
“Many people have been displaced again and again,” underlines Laetitia Bader of Human Rights Watch for the Horn of Africa on FRANCE 24. “This is not just a humanitarian crisis, it is a crisis of atrocities, with a complete disregard for civilian lives.”
© France 24
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Aid delivery is hampered not only by insecurity but also by deliberate obstruction. Both sides have used sieges and blockades to cut off supplies, particularly in Darfur.
“Food is being used as a weapon of war,” adds Reeves. “You restrict access, force a town to surrender and only then allow aid to flow.”
Humanitarian groups themselves have become targets. “They attack aid agencies because they want to loot supplies for their own troops,” Tounsel argues.
The consequences are stark. CARE reports that community kitchens across the country are “closing or reducing meal provision by 50 percent or more”, for instance “only providing one meal a day”.
Revilla says the targeting of civil society predates the current war. “Doctors have been assassinated. Associations dismantled. For years, NGOs have had to rely on Sudanese staff operating in extremely dangerous conditions,” she continues.
Underfunded
Diplomatic efforts led by the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, the so-called "Quad", have repeatedly stalled.
Analysts point to conflicting agendas among external powers. The UAE, in particular, has been accused of backing the RSF.
“They are reluctant to see a democratically led state emerge in Sudan,” says professor Revilla. “Maintaining influence appears to be the priority.”
Reeves is more blunt: “Behind all of this is the UAE, which sees the RSF as a military instrument in Africa. Without serious pressure on Abu Dhabi, it is hard to see the trajectory changing.”
DW April 14, 2026
The war in Sudan has been raging for the past three years, and a ceasefire is nowhere in sight. Participants at a conference of donors in Berlin hope at least to ease the suffering of the people caught in the middle.
Millions of people in Sudan are dependent on foreign aid
Image: Rian Cope/AFP
Over the past three years, the most severe humanitarian catastrophe in the world has been unfolding in Sudan — largely unnoticed by the global community.
Rival factions of the country's ruling military are engaged in bitter fighting, with around 150,000 people lost in the conflict so far. Approximately 12 million Sudanese have been forced to flee, nearly a quarter of the country's population. Meanwhile, more than 33 million people within the country — about two-thirds of the population — are dependent on aid.
The subject of the conference that got underway in Berlin this Wednesday is the plight of the people of this East African nation. Representatives from the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and the African Union — which comprises 55 countries on the continent — gathered at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. Their main goal was to secure additional funds to support the Sudanese population and to ensure that the conflict is not overshadowed by the many other global crises.
Over the past three years, the most severe humanitarian catastrophe in the world has been unfolding in Sudan — largely unnoticed by the global community.
Rival factions of the country's ruling military are engaged in bitter fighting, with around 150,000 people lost in the conflict so far. Approximately 12 million Sudanese have been forced to flee, nearly a quarter of the country's population. Meanwhile, more than 33 million people within the country — about two-thirds of the population — are dependent on aid.
The subject of the conference that got underway in Berlin this Wednesday is the plight of the people of this East African nation. Representatives from the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and the African Union — which comprises 55 countries on the continent — gathered at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. Their main goal was to secure additional funds to support the Sudanese population and to ensure that the conflict is not overshadowed by the many other global crises.
Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, a diplomat from Djibouti and chairperson of the African Union, held a brief meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday to discuss Sudan.
"Over 20 million people there are currently facing starvation. That is nearly half the country's population," said Merz. "Germany is one of the largest providers of humanitarian aid. That is why we also support all efforts by the US, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt to secure a ceasefire there."
Focus on financial pledges for Sudan
But Merz is also well aware that the chances of a ceasefire between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are exceedingly slim. Notably, representatives of the two conflicting parties were not even present in Berlin. A year ago, a similar conference held in London ended without results, as did the one in Paris in 2024. That is why financial pledges for the starving population have become the main focus of the conference in Berlin.
While Ali Youssouf also highlighted the urgent need for a ceasefire in Sudan, he noted that it is currently even more important to draw greater global attention to the suffering of the people living there.
"When the whole world is focusing on Iran and Ukraine and other crises, I think it is very much appreciated that Germany puts this agenda on the table, so that we do not lose sight of the suffering of the people of Sudan," he said.
Donations from donor countries are declining
In 2024, global donor countries collectively donated $2.07 billion (€1.91 billion) to supply the people of Sudan with basic necessities. By 2025, that figure had dropped to just $1.77 billion, which experts have estimated covered only about 40% of actual needs.
One reason for the sharp decline has been the significant cuts to aid by US President Donald Trump, as well as a shift among wealthy Western nations toward focusing more on the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine.
At the Sudan conference in London last year, pledges totaling around €1 billion were secured. According to German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul, a similar amount of aid can be expected in Berlin this week.
€20 million more in support from Germany
German Development Minister Reem Alabali Radovan plans to increase German aid for those in need by €20 million, focusing primarily on women.
In a press release issued before the conference, the minister wrote: "While many men are absent due to the war, women are taking care of their families and providing for them. Germany's development cooperation supports the Sudanese population, as well as refugees in host communities in neighboring countries, thereby laying the groundwork for a peaceful future in Sudan."
In total, all German funding for Sudan now amounts to €232 million.
But Sudan is far from a peaceful future. Experts fear the conflict could soon spread to neighboring countries such as Chad. Conditions within Sudan itself are unspeakable.
At the conference, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper pointed out that rape has repeatedly been used as a weapon of war — almost on an industrial scale, she emphasized.
Cooper announced that the UK would provide funding for Sudan amounting to the equivalent of around €168 million for 2026.
Drones from abroad exacerbating conflict
Three and a half years ago, Volker Türk began to serve as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights. Speaking to DW at the Berlin conference, the Austrian lawyer said the situation in Sudan is being further fueled by large-scale arms shipments to the warring parties from many countries.
"Not a single weapon is being produced in Sudan. The most modern weapons systems are now coming into Sudan; we've just seen this with drones. Since the beginning of the year, my office has documented 700 civilian deaths resulting from drone attacks," he said.
So why is this brutal conflict still so often ignored? Thorsten Klose-Zuber, head of the German nongovernmental organization Help–Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe, told the Catholic News Agency on Wednesday that this is partly because so few refugees from the country have made it to Europe.
According to the UN refugee agency, only about 14,000 refugees from Sudan were counted in Europe in 2025. This is significantly fewer than, for example, from Syria. Public awareness is correspondingly low, despite all the appeals made at conferences such as the one in Berlin.
This article was originally written in German.
Jens Thurau Jens Thurau is a senior political correspondent covering Germany's environment and climate policies.@JensThurau
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