Summary
Highlights
Since April 15th, 2023, Sudan has experienced one of the world's largest displacement crises, with 7.6 million internally displaced people and over 4 million refugees fleeing to neighboring countries. The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces has forced over 13 million people from their homes, leading to struggles for food, water, and shelter. Despite unsafe conditions, approximately 800,000 refugees have been forced to return.
A primary cause of the displacement is political instability following the fall of Omar al-Bashir in 2019. The failure to transition to stable civilian rule led to a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, resulting in a civil war. This conflict has caused mass displacement, civilian attacks, and bombings, eroding public trust in the government.
Driven largely by social and cultural tensions between ethnic groups, the crisis includes the targeting of non-Arab communities, particularly the Mazalit people, by the RSF. These attacks involve sexual violence, torture, killings, and the destruction of communities, leading the US to label these acts as genocide. The breakdown of Sudan's military alliance in 2024 further intensified the conflict, targeting specific cultural groups and leading to the UN declaring the worst displacement crisis, with over 11 million people, mostly children, displaced multiple times.
Poor environmental conditions significantly contribute to Sudan's high displacement numbers. Increased deforestation, agricultural decline, and pollution from damaged infrastructure are affecting both urban and rural populations. The collapse of the Arba Dam due to intense rainfall, exacerbated by climate change, caused widespread flooding. Additionally, droughts, heatwaves, desertification, land degradation, and water scarcity further drive people from their homes.
In January 2025, the Sudanese army used a drone to attack RSF fighters in Alaser, killing a top leader and more than 30 others. This indicates the army's use of advanced weaponry, potentially with foreign aid, escalating the conflict in Darfur. On November 6, 2025, the RSF agreed to a US-proposed humanitarian ceasefire, following an 18-month siege and confirmed famine conditions. Despite previous failed ceasefires, international efforts involving the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt aim for a three-month truce, a permanent ceasefire, and a transition to civilian rule, awaiting a response from Sudan's military-led government.
Kadia Muhammad Omar, a 22-year-old woman from Guinea, shares her harrowing experience of mass killings in Sudan. Her city became an RSF-controlled battlefield, where she witnessed RSF members rounding up and killing men and boys over 14, and raping women. She successfully fled to Chad, but the traumatic memories persist. Men attempting to escape had to take longer, hidden routes to avoid checkpoints where soldiers confiscated belongings. Kadia's husband remained in hiding in Sudan as of January 2024, and her children witnessed numerous dead bodies, mostly men, during their escape.