The humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan

Translated by Francesca Valsecchi 

The situation in Sudan has reached emergency levels without precedents, given that El Fasher, chief town of North Dafur, is in state of siege since more than 500 days. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have taken control over the city, foraying home after home, with summary executions and indiscriminate attacks against civils, while every escape route remains blocked. According to humanitarian sources, in the last days more than 2,000 people, among which hundreds of children, have been killed and more than 260,000 civils remain trapped without access to food, water or health care.

The conflict has hardly struck the whole country: two people out of three need aid, almost 12 million people have been forced to leave their homes since 2023, and half of the population lives in strong alimentary insecurity. Women and children are among the most vulnerable, exposed to sexual violences and traumas, while a cholera epidemy is spreading in a health system which is almost paralysed. Hospitals have become the target: in the Saudi hospital of El Fasher, 460 people have been killed, and 6 health operators have been kidnapped. This is a clear example of violation of international humanitarian law.

Humanitarian organisations such as Save the Children, have intensified their assistance in Tawila and in Jabal Marra, providing more than 224,000 refugees with food, water and medical assistance. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) still protects and supports refugees, both the internal and those in bordering countries, but it marks that without an urgent international aid, the survivorship of millions of people is at risk.

In the last months, more than 106,000 people have left El Fasher and neighbouring areas. According to the United Nations, 75% of medical facilities in the affected areas is not operative because of attacks, sacks and staff and supply shortage. The levels of severe malnutrition are extreme, especially among children and pregnant women, and many refugees are forced to eat feedstuff in order to survive.

Recently, a cargo plane has landed in Port Sudan with 40 tons of medicines and therapeutic nutrients, also destined to Tawila, where Medici senza Frontiere (MSF) teams operate to assist survivors of the siege that lasted more than 500 days.

The crisis attacks education too: over three-fourths of the 17 million children in school age are not going to schools, which are closed because of the conflicts, prejudicing the future of an entire generation. Amnesty International has reported the war crimes committed by RSF in El Fasher and has demanded that the responsible will be held accountable for their actions.

The AOI (Association of Italian Organisations for International Cooperation and Solidarity) strongly condemns the atrociousness and underlines that El Fasher’s tragedy was already predictable after sixteen months of siege and over two years of conflict. According to the organisation, more than 150,000 deaths, 13 million refugees and 30 million people in urgent need of help make this the most serious crisis in the world. AOI invites the international community, the European Union and the Italian government to order ceasefire, to realise safe humanitarian corridors, to increase the number of humanitarian aids, and to stop supplies to the United Arab Emirates, suspected to support the RSF violating the NU embargo.

Switzerland has strengthened its humanitarian engagement: on November 19 2025, the Government has asked the Parliament for an urgent loan of 50 million francs in order to supply food, water, medicines, accommodation and protection to the affected people, in addition to 140 million already allocated in 2023. Swiss aid also supports refugees in Chad, South Sudan and Egypt, countries that are particularly vulnerable to the arrival of refugees. A mission led by Dominik Stillhart, a Federal Council's delegate for humanitarian aid, will assess the most urgent needs on the field.

Nowadays the overall picture represents a global catastrophe: millions of civils face hunger, violence, illnesses and daily shocks, while the international community is called to guarantee protection, safe access to aid and the end of El Fasher’s siege. The combination of armed conflict, collapse of essential services and food emergency makes a coordinated intervention urgent in order to prevent an irreversible worsening of the humanitarian crisis. 

Mondo Internazionale APS - Riproduzione Riservata® 2025