Last year in December, “To Vima” described the civil war raging in as “the biggest humanitarian disaster on the planet, which is expected to get worse in the next year”. A year later, the ominous predictions have been confirmed.
As the war in Africa’s third largest country – three times the size of France – now enters its third year, it continues to cause a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable scale.
In what is believed to be , nearly 12 million people have been displaced, according to the United Nations, of whom 7.5 million are inside the country, while the rest are scattered in nearby, also unstable, impoverished and conflict-ridden countries such as Chad, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
Additionally, in what is considered the world’s largest hunger crisis, the UN reports that 21 million Sudanese – two in five – are suffering from hunger and 375,000 are experiencing catastrophic famine.
As for the death toll, estimates vary widely, with the former US envoy to Sudan suggesting that as many as 400,000 have been killed since the conflict began on April 15, 2023.
(counting only those officially recorded), 1.5 million cases of malaria, 120,000 cases of cholera, as well as the lowest rate of vaccination coverage worldwide, with the BBC pointing out that the Trump administration’s decision to reduce humanitarian aid abroad has contributed to this situation.
And as everything shows, of the great powers of the world.
Two and a half years ago, the fragile alliance between the Sudanese regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) rebels was violently dissolved, along with any hopes for a democratic transition. On April 15, 2023, the RSF, under General Hamedi, moved against the country’s de facto leader, General Al Burhan. From the capital Khartoum, the fighting spread to almost the entire country.
Since then, the two sides have been competing for control of the country and its rich natural resources, with horrific ferocity fueled largely by cultural rivalries or outright racism – and with the tacit or overt support of other regional powers, which appear to have turned Sudan into a proxy battleground.
For example, General Al Burhan, a member of the traditional ruling elite, has received support from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. His opponent, General Hemedi, who hails from Darfur’s often-marginalized tribes, has benefited from heavy military aid provided to the RSF by the United Arab Emirates. But the Russians, the Chinese, the Turks, the Egyptians and others are also closely interested in Sudan, especially Darfur.
The most violent episode of 2025 was recorded two months ago, when the RSF captured the town of El Fasher in North Darfur, in the west of the country. After a siege that has lasted more than a year, and which has condemned the quarter of a million people who live in the city to starvation and disease, paramilitary forces stormed El Fasher to carry out what Spain’s El Pais described as “” Yale University put the death toll at more than 10,000, including at least 460 at a maternity and children’s hospital, the only one operating in the region.
What about ending the conflict?
Several rounds of peace talks have been held to end this torture for the Sudanese people in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain – but they have failed.
Early last November, the RSF announced that it had agreed to a humanitarian ceasefire proposed by the US, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. However, the military said it was wary, accusing the RSF of not respecting the ceasefires.
The think tank International Crisis Group characterizes , Amnesty International describes the global reaction as “woefully inadequate”, the French Monde speaks of “unbearable global inaction” and El Pais of “indifference”.
According to analysts, the West’s physical and cultural distance from Sudan, as well as the lack of reliable information on developments on the battlefield, limit the focus of global public attention on the African country as much as it should be.
