Introduction
The civil war in Sudan, which began in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has gradually evolved into one of the deepest humanitarian and human rights crises of recent decades. This conflict has not only shattered Sudan’s political and security structures but has also disintegrated the country’s social and economic fabric.
International reports indicate that thousands of people have been killed, while millions have been displaced or forced to seek refuge. In many regions, particularly Darfur, ethnic violence and attacks against civilians have taken on a massive scale, raising serious concerns about the commission of international crimes, including genocide and crimes against humanity.
The collapse of healthcare, education, and relief infrastructures has left the living conditions of civilians in an extremely dire state, with the threat of famine and disease spreading across vast areas of the country.
At a deeper level, the Sudanese civil war reflects a broader crisis in the nation’s political life — one rooted in decades of political instability, ethnic fragmentation, separatist tendencies, and the weakness of governance institutions.
Incidents
- August 2025 – Darfur
In August 2025, a new wave of violence and civilian rights violations swept across Sudan—violence that, over two years, had displaced 12 million people[1]. The situation was particularly catastrophic in the Darfur region, which once again became the scene of bloody clashes between the RSF and the SAF.
The RSF conducted heavy shelling of urban areas and internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, resulting in massive civilian casualties. According to a Human Rights Watch report dated 11 August, attacks on the Abu Shouk IDP camp and besieged neighborhoods in El Fasher left at least 57 civilians dead, while between 16 and 20 August, at least 32 more civilians were killed[2].
These massacres occurred while El Fasher had been under complete siege for over a year, forcing residents to survive by eating animal fodder. The prolonged blockade and the closure of humanitarian corridors made access to food, water, and medicine almost impossible, paving the way for widespread famine, malnutrition, and disease.
In recent months, RSF forces had intensified this total siege by digging a large trench and erecting sand barricades around the city[3]. Across Darfur and other conflict-affected regions, reports documented the systematic targeting of civilians, mass displacement, sexual and gender-based violence, the collapse of the health system, and the destruction of vital infrastructure.
On 13 August 2025, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement calling for the immediate lifting of the siege on El Fasher and unhindered humanitarian access, yet in practice no decisive or effective measures were taken to halt the violence.
Simultaneously, in the Kordofan region, clashes intensified as Sudanese army airstrikes targeted residential areas and IDP camps, causing new civilian casualties.
- October 2025 – Darfur
Local sources reported that on Saturday, 25 October, the SAF and their allied militias withdrew from their Sixth Infantry Division headquarters, their last stronghold in El Fasher, following continuous bombardments.
On 26 October 2025, after approximately 18 months of siege, El Fasher fell completely under the control of the RSF[4].
In a statement issued by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, leader of the Sudanese Armed Forces, he declared that his forces had decided to fully withdraw from the city in the hope of preventing further violence against civilians[5].
However, following the city’s fall, international sources reported widespread human rights violations, including summary executions, house-to-house assaults, and the deliberate targeting of civilians, particularly members of the non-Arab ethnic groups such as the Fur, Zaghawa, and Berti communities[6].
In a statement released by the El Fasher Resistance Committees—civilian-led local groups—it was declared:
“The innocent people of El Fasher are being subjected to the most atrocious forms of violence and ethnic cleansing[7].”
According to the Sudan Doctors’ Union, more than 1,500 people were killed within just a few days after the city’s capture[8], most of them civilians from the Fur, Zaghawa, Berti, Masalit, and other non-Arab communities.
Reports also emerged of RSF attacks on medical facilities in El Fasher, including the Saudi Hospital, where hundreds of patients, companions, and staff were reportedly killed.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), stated that over 460 people had been killed in that hospital alone[9].
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and other international bodies assessed the risk of ethnic cleansing in Darfur as extremely serious, and confirmed that deliberate, structured actions against civilians were under investigation.
According to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, due to the communications blackout and the large number of people fleeing, it was impossible to accurately estimate civilian casualties in the short term[10].
Challenges and Responses
- The Inhumane Situation of Women and Children
As Sudan’s civil war drags on, the plight of women and children has become one of the most catastrophic dimensions of the country’s humanitarian disaster. The collapse of governmental structures and social services has pushed millions into displacement, hunger, and insecurity.
Women, in particular, are exposed to sexual violence, exploitation, and multiple forms of discrimination, while many have been forced to assume the sole responsibility of supporting their families.
According to UN Women, the number of individuals at risk of gender-based violence (GBV) — including sexual assault and rape — has tripled since the onset of the conflict, reaching over 12 million people[11], representing a 100% increase in violence against women[12]. The same report estimates that 53% of IDPs within Sudan are women and girls, amounting to approximately 5.8 million individuals[13].
From April 2023 to March 2025, the Unit for Combating Violence Against Women and Children (CVAW) in Sudan registered 1,138 cases of rape committed against women and girls[14].
Children have also been deprived of education, nutrition, and basic healthcare, with many falling victim to malnutrition, disease, and exploitation. Temporary camps often lack security, safe water, and sanitation, and humanitarian organizations face severe obstacles in reaching conflict zones.
Even before the outbreak of the war, the situation of Sudanese children was alarmingly dire — and the conflict has exacerbated it further. Prior to April 2023, seven million children (representing one-third of Sudan’s child population) were already out of school. Since the escalation of the conflict, this figure has surged dramatically, leaving over 17 million out of 19 million school-aged children deprived of education[15].
According to UNICEF, of the 221 documented cases of child rape, 147 victims (66%) were girls, while 33% were boys, a figure equally alarming due to the social stigma and barriers to reporting and accessing support services faced by male victims. Shockingly, 16 victims were under five years old, including four infants aged only one year. These incidents were reported across nine Sudanese states, spanning from south to north and east to west[16].
- Famine and Food Insecurity
Hunger and famine represent one of the central dimensions of Sudan’s civil war and a grave threat to civilians. The destruction of agricultural infrastructure, disruption of food supply routes, and city blockades have driven millions to the brink of starvation.
According to United Nations assessments, nearly half of the country’s population faces severe food insecurity, and in several regions, the risk of mass famine is imminent. Families are forced to reduce meals, or resort to inedible substitutes to survive.
The most recent Famine Review Committee report and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) identified famine conditions with reliable data in at least five areas of Sudan, including the Zamzam, Abu Shouk, and Al Salam IDP camps in North Darfur, as well as the Nuba Mountains in western Sudan, affecting both residents and internally displaced persons[17].
In February 2025, Stéphane Doyon, Operations Director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), stated:
“To provide monthly food rations for those in the most critical conditions, at least 2,500 aid trucks are required every month. However, in the past six months, only around 1,150 trucks have reached Darfur[18].”
It is evident that, following the fall of El Fasher, the food crisis has worsened and become even more complex.
- Domestic Reactions
The Sudan Doctors’ Union issued a statement reacting to the massacre of civilians, particularly in El Fasher. The union described the massacre at the Saudi Hospital and Maternity Ward as:
“A heinous crime that violates all humanitarian laws and divine principles.”
It stressed that what occurred was not an isolated incident, but part of a systematic genocide perpetrated by the RSF, amid the suspicious and shameful silence of the international community regarding the atrocities in Darfur.
The statement held the RSF and its leadership fully responsible for the horrific crimes and asserted that:
“We consider these acts to constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the perpetrators must be prosecuted before international courts.”
The union called upon the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), the Security Council, and all human rights institutions worldwide to break their silence and take immediate action to protect medical personnel, patients, and defenseless civilians in El Fasher and across Darfur.
Dr. Tasneem Al-Amin, spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors’ Union, emphasized:
“The massacres the world is now witnessing are a continuation of the atrocities that occurred over a year and a half ago in El Fasher, where more than 14,000 civilians were killed due to bombardments, starvation, and extrajudicial executions. At that time, the city was under total siege, subjected to a systematic starvation policy and deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure, markets, and IDP camps. Yet within only a few days in late October, the Rapid Support Forces killed around 1,500 civilians in El Fasher — all of them shot dead while fleeing the city in search of safety[19].”
- International Reactions
On 13 August 2025, Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement expressing deep outrage and condemnation over the large-scale attack carried out by the RSF on the besieged city of El Fasher and the Abu Shouk IDP camp in North Darfur.
According to the OHCHR, initial information indicated that during the 11 August attack, at least 57 civilians were killed, including 40 internally displaced persons residing in the Abu Shouk camp. The OHCHR also stated that it was investigating reports of summary executions of displaced people in the same camp during the assault.
In his statement, Türk declared:
“With profound sorrow, we are once again witnessing an unimaginable tragedy inflicted upon the civilians of El Fasher — people who have lived for over a year under unbearable siege, repeated assaults, and an expanding humanitarian catastrophe. These recurring attacks on civilians, which raise grave concerns under international humanitarian law, are utterly unacceptable and must cease immediately.”
The High Commissioner emphasized that the attack was part of a pattern of RSF assaults on IDP camps in and around El Fasher. He concluded:
“Once again, I sound the alarm on the growing risk of ethnically motivated persecution and violence, which has intensified alongside the RSF’s campaign to seize El Fasher and the Abu Shouk camp[20].”
On 31 October 2025, MSF issued a statement condemning the attacks on civilians in El Fasher. The statement read:
“Médecins Sans Frontières condemns the horrific massacres and atrocities that have recently occurred in El Fasher and its surrounding areas in Sudan — atrocities that were both indiscriminate and ethnically driven.”
The organization warned that large numbers of civilians remained in grave danger and that RSF forces and their allies were preventing their evacuation to safer areas such as Tawila.
MSF teams established an emergency post at the entrance to the Tawila Hospital, expanding surgical and emergency capacities to respond to the influx of wounded.
Dr. Livia Tampellini, Deputy Director of Emergency Operations at MSF, stated:
“Between 26 and 29 October, we received 396 wounded patients and treated more than 700 new arrivals from El Fasher in the hospital’s emergency ward. The most common injuries included gunshot wounds, fractures, and trauma caused by beatings and torture. Some patients were suffering from infected wounds or complications from emergency surgeries performed under primitive conditions[21].”
On 28 October 2025, the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (GCR2P), affiliated with the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies in New York, released a statement regarding the situation in Sudan. It noted that, since the onset of the siege, the international community had witnessed the escalating conflict but had taken no effective or decisive action to stop it.
Despite repeated warnings from the United Nations, human rights organizations, and Sudanese civil society that the RSF’s takeover of El Fasher could result in large-scale, deliberate attacks on civilians, no coordinated or systemic effort had been made to protect the population, ensure accountability, or halt arms transfers to the perpetrators.
The statement underscored that the paralysis of the UN Security Council, driven by geopolitical rivalries and political indifference, had once again abandoned the people of Darfur to collective atrocities.
Accordingly, the GCR2P called on the international community to:
- Enforce an immediate and binding ceasefire in El Fasher and other crisis areas;
- Urge Security Council members — particularly Sierra Leone, Somalia, Algeria, and Russia — to actively support a strong resolution containing concrete measures for civilian protection;
- Halt arms transfers and financial support to the warring parties; and
- Call upon the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to use its influence to end attacks on civilians, uphold international humanitarian and human rights law, and cease any material, financial, or political support to the RSF[22].
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) also issued a report warning of the deteriorating nutrition situation in Sudan due to the ongoing civil war.
According to the report, the agricultural sector, which provides the primary source of food and income for 80% of the population, has collapsed under the weight of violence, displacement, and economic breakdown.
Reduced rainfall has further heightened the risk of famine. Markets have been looted, supply chains destroyed, and prices of food, seeds, and fuel have skyrocketed. Key agricultural regions can no longer cultivate, and livestock losses are increasing due to disease and shortages of vaccines.
FAO has attempted to mitigate total collapse by distributing seeds, vaccinating livestock, and supplying animal feed, but these efforts cover only a small fraction of actual needs.
While half of Sudan’s population faces severe food insecurity, only 37% of the requested humanitarian funding was provided in the previous year. The report warned that if the international community remains indifferent, millions of Sudanese will face famine and the destruction of their livelihoods[23].
Conclusion
The civil war in Sudan, which erupted in April 2023, has now evolved into one of the most profound humanitarian and human rights crises in the world. This conflict embodies not only the total erosion of state institutions but also the failure of the international system to prevent mass atrocities and the repetition of tragedies reminiscent of Rwanda and Gaza.
The war has shattered Sudan’s social fabric through a combination of political power vacuum, ethnic and tribal rivalries, and pervasive militarization. What is unfolding in Darfur and El Fasher is not merely a civil war but a manifestation of structural violence and a systematic starvation policy directed against non-Arab populations, which may constitute a form of gradual genocide.
The widespread sexual assaults, child malnutrition, and the collapse of the health and education systems paint a harrowing portrait of a society being dragged toward the brink of annihilation.
Meanwhile, the silence and impotence of the UN Security Council, compounded by geopolitical rivalries among global powers, have severely obstructed efforts to contain the crisis and stop the violence.
Although international bodies such as the OHCHR, MSF, UNICEF, and the FAO have issued numerous reports and statements highlighting the gravity of the situation, the absence of sufficient political will and effective enforcement mechanisms has prevented any tangible improvement on the ground.
The fall of El Fasher and the mass civilian casualties that followed stand as stark evidence of the international community’s failure to uphold the principles of international humanitarian law and the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P).
Under such circumstances, there is an urgent need for a renewed global consensus — one that exerts diplomatic pressure on all warring parties, halts arms transfers, ensures unhindered humanitarian access, and initiates credible legal accountability processes for those responsible for atrocities.
Only through a coordinated and principled international response can Sudan be prevented from descending further into destruction and the cycle of impunity that has long plagued its history be finally broken.
References
[1] Al Jazeera. (2025, October 30). UN officials condemn ‘horrifying’ mass killings in Sudan as RSF advances. Al Jazeera. From: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/30/un-officials-condemn-horrifying-mass-killings-in-sudan-as-rsf-advances
[2] Human Rights Watch. (2025, August 29). Sudan: UN Should Act to Protect Starving Civilians. Human Rights Watch. From: https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/08/29/sudan-un-should-act-to-protect-starving-civilians
[3] Human Rights Watch. (2025, October 29). Sudan: Mass Atrocities in Captured Darfur City. Human Rights Watch. From: https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/10/29/sudan-mass-atrocities-in-captured-darfur-city
[4] Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. (2025, October 29). Atrocity Alert No. 456: Sudan, Cameroon and Nicaragua. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. From: https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/atrocity-alert-no-456/
[5] Al Jazeera. (2025, October 28). Sudan army withdraws from Darfur’s el-Fasher, UN warns of RSF atrocities. Al Jazeera. From: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/28/sudan-army-announces-withdrawal-from-el-fasher-un-warns-of-rsf-atrocities
[6] Salhani, J. (2025, October 28). Yale report finds evidence of RSF mass killings in Sudan’s el-Fasher. Al Jazeera. From: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/28/yale-report-finds-evidence-of-rsf-mass-killings-in-sudans-el-fasher
[7] Yilmaz, B. (2025, October 28). Sudanese groups accuse paramilitary RSF of ethnic cleansing in El-Fasher. Anadolu Ajansi. From: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/sudanese-groups-accuse-paramilitary-rsf-of-ethnic-cleansing-in-el-fasher/3727417
[8] Al Jazeera. (2025, October 29). ‘A true genocide’: RSF kills ‘at least 1,500 people’ in Sudan’s el-Fasher. Al Jazeera. From: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/10/29/horrific-violations-arab-nations-slam-rsf-killings-in-sudans-el-fasher
[9] Savage, R. (2025, October 29). Hundreds reportedly killed at Sudanese hospital as evidence of RSF atrocities mounts. The Guardian. From: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/29/hundreds-reportedly-killed-at-sudanese-hospital-as-evidence-of-rsf-atrocities-mounts
[10] Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2025, October 27). Sudan: Appalling reports of summary executions and other serious violations, as RSF makes major territorial gains in El Fasher and North Kordofan. United Nations. From: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/10/sudan-appalling-reports-summary-executions-and-other-serious-violations-rsf
[11] UN Women. (2025, April 10). Two years of relentless conflict in Sudan have triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis for 6 million displaced women and girls. UN Women. From: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/press-release/2025/04/two-years-of-relentless-conflict-in-sudan-have-triggered-the-worlds-worst-humanitarian-crisis-for-6-million-displaced-women-and-girls
[12] James, N. (2024, October 4). Women this week: Humanitarian crisis in Sudan disproportionately impacts women and girls. Council on Foreign Relations. From: https://www.cfr.org/blog/women-week-women-week-humanitarian-crisis-sudan-disproportionately-impacts-women-and-girls
[13] UN Women. (2025, April 15). The impact of Sudan’s war on women, two years on. UN Women. From: https://www.unwomen.org/en/articles/explainer/the-impact-of-sudans-war-on-women-two-years-on
[14] Baboolal, S. (2025, August 9). UN warns of Sudan humanitarian crisis impact on women and girls. Jurist News. From: https://www.jurist.org/news/2025/08/un-warns-of-sudan-humanitarian-crisis-impact-on-women-and-girls/
[15] UNICEF. (n.d.). The Sudan crisis – A children’s crisis. UNICEF. From: https://www.unicef.org/sudan/sudan-crisis-childrens-crisis-0
[16] UNICEF. (2025, March 4). Children as young as one reported among survivors of rape during Sudan’s violent conflict. UNICEF. From: https://www.unicef.org/sudan/press-releases/children-young-one-reported-among-survivors-rape-during-sudans-violent-conflict
[17] UNICEF. (2024, December 24). Food and nutrition crisis deepens across Sudan as famine identified in additional areas. UNICEF. From: https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/food-and-nutrition-crisis-deepens-across-sudan-famine-identified-additional-areas
[18] Doctors Without Borders. (2025, February 3). Sudan malnutrition crisis: Millions face emergency levels of food insecurity. Doctors Without Borders. From: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/sudan-malnutrition-crisis-millions-face-emergency-levels-food-insecurity
[19] Dabanga. (2025, October 30). Mass atrocities in El Fasher, North Darfur – UN Security Council holds emergency session. Dabanga. From: https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/mass-atrocities-in-el-fasher-north-darfur-un-security-council-holds-emergency-session
[20] Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. (2025, August 13). Sudan: Türk outraged after RSF kills at least 57 civilians in El Fasher and Abu Shouk IDP camp. United Nations. From: https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/08/sudan-turk-outraged-after-rsf-kills-least-57-civilians-el-fasher-and-abu
[21] Doctors Without Borders. (2025, October 31). Urgent: Mass atrocities in El Fasher as people remain in grave danger. Doctors Without Borders. From: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/urgent-mass-atrocities-el-fasher-people-remain-grave-danger
[22] Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. (2025, October 28). Mounting atrocities in El Fasher demand immediate international action. Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect. From: https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/mounting-atrocities-in-el-fasher-demand-immediate-international-action/
[23] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2025, April 15). 5 things you should know about Sudan’s food security crisis. FAO. From: https://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources-repository/news/detail/5-things-you-should-know-about-sudan%27s-food-security-crisis/en
