Three years into a civil war that has killed an estimated 150,000 people, Sudan is experiencing what United Nations officials describe as one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the world today. And yet, international attention remains fractured, resources are stretched thin, and the crisis is rarely front-page news.
A Conflict With No End in Sight
The Sudanese civil war erupted in April 2023 when fighting broke out between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo. What began as a power struggle at the top of Sudan’s transitional government quickly metastasized into a full-scale war that has consumed the country from Darfur in the west to Khartoum in the centre.
By late 2025, the conflict had forced more than 25 million people into severe food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme. Four million children are acutely malnourished. Famine conditions have been formally declared in several regions. The healthcare system has collapsed in large swaths of the country.
The Darfur Massacre and the RSF’s Reign of Terror
The most horrific chapter of the war has played out in Darfur, where the RSF and allied Arab militias have been accused of systematic attacks against non-Arab communities. The town of El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, has seen some of the worst fighting, with the RSF surrounding the city and repeatedly storming displacement camps where hundreds of thousands of civilians had sought shelter.
Satellite imagery and survivor testimony, documented by Human Rights Watch and the African Union, point to widespread sexual violence, mass executions, and the deliberate burning of villages. Thejani Abubakar, a 34-year-old mother of three who fled to Chad, told journalists: “We lost everything in one night. My husband’s family — all gone. There was nothing left but smoke.”
Chad: The Unseen Refugee Crisis
Across the border in Chad, more than 600,000 Sudanese refugees have fled seeking safety, overwhelming camps ill-equipped to handle such numbers. The UNHCR has repeatedly warned that funding falls far short of what is needed. At the border town of Adré, aid workers describe a daily inflow of thousands of people, many having walked for days with little food or water.
The European Parliament passed a resolution in early 2026 condemning the violence, but concrete action has been limited. Weapons flows into the region have continued, with the RSF reportedly receiving support from external actors with strategic interests in the Red Sea corridor.
A Plea From the Ground
Father Samir Alrafayne, a Sudanese Catholic priest serving in Angola, raised the alarm during Pope Leo XIV’s Africa visit in April 2026. Speaking in Luanda, he said global attention on Sudan remained “far too little.” “Pope Leo has spoken clearly: no more war,” Fr. Alrafayne said. “But the world is not listening.”
International Catholic charities, including Caritas Internationalis, have tried to fill some of the gaps left by sweeping USAID cuts enacted by the United States in 2025 — cuts that have gutted programmes supporting food distribution, maternal health, and shelter in conflict zones across Sudan and Chad.
The Cost of Forgetting
With wars in Ukraine and Gaza commanding headlines, Sudan has struggled to retain international focus. The United Nations Security Council has deadlocked repeatedly, with key members unable to agree on even symbolic measures.
In camps across Darfur and Chad, Sudanese families are making impossible choices. Ration cards are stamped with “insufficient” in red ink. Children are treated for malnutrition in facilities running on generator power. And in the words of one aid worker who asked not to be named: “We are watching a country disappear, and the world has decided it doesn’t want to see.”