Sudan’s humanitarian crisis has reached alarming new heights, with escalating violence, disease outbreaks, and mass displacement pushing the nation to a breaking point, according to reports from international monitors. Over half a million people fled their homes in June 2025 alone, bringing total displacements since April 2023 to more than two million. The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) described the situation as “one of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies,” citing widespread rights violations and systemic collapse.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which withdrew from the capital Khartoum, have consolidated control in strategic regions like West Kordofan and El Uweinat—a border zone near Libya and Egypt. This shift has coincided with the near-total breakdown of governance and judicial institutions. The Sudanese Lawyers’ Union recently criticized new court fees for criminal cases as discriminatory, further eroding public trust.
Violence has surged in multiple regions. In North Kordofan’s Shaq El Noum, an RSF-led attack reportedly killed over 300 civilians, according to a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) report. South Kordofan’s Kadugli remains inaccessible to aid groups amid intensified clashes, while armed groups elsewhere are seizing food supplies as hunger spreads. Compounding the crisis, torrential rains in West Darfur have flooded roads, isolating communities hosting displaced populations.
A cholera outbreak has infected 91,000 people across 17 states, claiming at least 2,300 lives. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns of a “looming health catastrophe” without urgent ceasefires and humanitarian corridors, particularly in North Darfur’s besieged capital, El Fasher. While a vaccination campaign in Khartoum reduced daily cholera cases from 1,500 to under 30, funding shortfalls threaten to reverse progress. OCHA estimates only 23% of 2025’s $3.9 billion aid appeal has been met, leaving critical programs at risk.
Immunization rates for children have plummeted to 48%—the lowest in four decades—placing 880,000 infants in jeopardy of preventable diseases like tetanus, UNICEF and WHO reported. UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric emphasized that dwindling resources are forcing life-saving initiatives, including North Darfur’s community kitchens, to the brink of closure. He called for “unimpeded humanitarian access, increased funding, and an immediate end to hostilities.”
For those returning to conflict-scarred regions like El Gezira, recovery seems insurmountable. “We took only what we could carry,” said Osman Bashir Mohammed Ali, a displaced resident who found his hometown unrecognizable. “I don’t know how to start again.” As international attention wanes, aid groups stress that Sudan’s crisis—marked by intersecting disasters—demands urgent global action to prevent further loss of life.
