Sudan crisis deepens, millions face hunger, displacement and violence

Sudan’s humanitarian collapse has reached a scale that aid groups say is outstripping the world’s response. Janti Soeripto said she had just returned from Sudan as Margaret Brennan described the war as an “inhumane tragedy,” with 33.7 million people needing humanitarian assistance this year, the highest number anywhere in the world.

The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces began on April 15, 2023, and has become the world’s largest displacement crisis. United Nations reporting says 9.3 million people have been uprooted inside Sudan and another 4.4 million have fled to neighboring countries, while the country’s humanitarian need has risen by 3.3 million people from last year.

Soeripto rejected the idea that aid organizations are standing still, but said the scale has overwhelmed what they can deliver. “Aid groups are doing what they can but it is not enough,” she said, pointing to a simple obstacle that policymakers often soften into abstractions: there is not enough money, not enough access and not enough protection for the people caught in the fighting.

That gap is most visible in Darfur, where Soeripto said Save the Children has about 150 colleagues, all of whom have lost their homes and are themselves displaced. Many came from El Fasher, where much of the violence erupted last October. The crisis is also being driven by economic collapse, accelerating inflation and climate shocks, with the most critical needs concentrated in South Darfur, Aj Jazirah, Khartoum and North Darfur.

The violence has also taken a brutal gendered toll. Brennan cited United Nations figures saying 13 million people, mostly women and girls, need support tied to conflict-related sexual violence, four times higher than before the war. Doctors Without Borders has said women and girls accounted for 97% of the survivors treated in its programs, underscoring how sexual violence has become a defining feature of the conflict.

Food insecurity is worsening at the same time. The World Food Programme says Sudan remains the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and famine conditions have been confirmed in Al Fasher and Kadugli. Another 20 areas across Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan are at risk.

For policymakers in Washington and other donor capitals, the warning from Sudan is stark: humanitarian agencies cannot absorb a crisis of this size by willpower alone. Without sustained funding, safer access and pressure to protect civilians, the country’s hunger, displacement and violence will keep deepening.