The UN and the crisis in Sudan (Jul-Dec 2025)

12.5 million
forcibly displaced since 15 April 2023
50,000+
reportedly killed
30.4 million
people in need of assistance

What is the crisis about?

On 15 April 15, 2023, the fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The armed conflict is affecting millions of lives in Sudan and causing mass displacement, food insecurity and education challenges that require immediate humanitarian help.

Right now, Sudan is experiencing a humanitarian catastrophe with over 25 million people in desperate need of assistance.

More information on the background to the conflict.

Latest developments

14 November

Sudan war: Aid teams plead for access to thousands trapped in El Fasher 

A child sits next to a stove in Tawila after his family fled El Fasher.
© UNICEF/Mohammed Jamal A child sits next to a stove in Tawila after his family fled El Fasher. They have faced “unimaginable horrors”, UN agencies report.

Just how many people are still trapped in the Sudanese city of El Fasher? That’s the burning question for relatives of the many thousands of people believed to still be there, since paramilitary fighters overran the regional capital of North Darfur last month, after a 500-day siege. (UN News)

  • High Commissioner at Special Session on Sudan: The international community has a clear duty to act (OHCHR)
  • Human Rights Council calls for Urgent Inquiry into Recent Alleged Violations of International Law Committed in and Around El Fasher, Sudan (OHCHR)
  • Displaced civilians fleeing Sudan’s Darfur, Kordofan regions navigate serious violations, deadly routes (UNHCR)

13 November

  • Families in Sudan ‘running out of time’ as hunger spreads (UN News)

11 November

  • Briefing remarks on the situation of women and girls in Sudan (UN Women)
  • IOM Chief Warns of Imminent Catastrophe as Displacement Surges in North Darfur (IOM)
  • UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict ,Ms. Pramila Patten, condemns brutal attacks in North Darfur and North Kordofan (UN Office of SRSG on Sexual Violence in Conflict)
  • Sudan: When home calls, farmers answer (FAO)

10 November

  • Rebuilding after El Fasher (UNICEF)

7 November

Rights chief warns ‘abominable atrocities’ likely continue in Sudan’s El Fasher

People who have fled El Fasher arrive in Tawila in North Darfur, Sudan. © UN OCHA
People who have fled El Fasher arrive in Tawila in North Darfur, Sudan. © UN OCHA

Warnings of worsening humanitarian conditions in Sudan continue, despite reports of a ceasefire deal brokered by international mediators on Thursday. (UN News)

  • UN experts appalled by reports of mass atrocities, unlawful killings and sexual violence in El Fasher (OHCHR)
  • Türk fears more atrocities in Darfur, warns Kordofan could be next (OHCHR)

6 November

  • Genocide prevention expert raises alarm over alleged Sudan atrocity crimes (UN News)

5 November

  • Women flee atrocities in Sudan’s El Fasher only to face new crisis in overcrowded camps (UNFPA)
  • UN agencies race to aid civilians as violence engulfs El Fasher (UN News)
  • “The cost of silence in Sudan’s civil war is too high” (OHCHR)

4 November

  • Famine conditions confirmed in Sudan’s El Fasher and Kadugli as hunger and malnutrition ease where conflict subsides (FAO, UNICEF, WFP)

3 November

  • Statement of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor on the situation in El-Fasher, North Darfur (ICC)

31 October

  • Statement: UN Women calls for urgent protection of women and girls in El Fasher, Sudan (UN Women)
  • Under attack in El Fasher by El Fasher (OCHA)
  • Sudan: El Fasher atrocities must be investigated and perpetrators held to account (OHCHR)

30 October

  • Emergency Relief Chief warns Security Council attacks in El Fasher “recall the horrors” that Darfur endured 20 years ago (OCHA)
  • Joint UN convoy brings vital aid to besieged communities in Sudan’s South Kordofan (WFP)
  • Statement by the Humanitarian Country Team Sudan Women’s Advisory Group — A Demand from Sudan’s Women Humanitarians on Protection of Civilians in El Fasher (UN Sudan)
  • Security Council Press Statement on Sudan (UNSC)
  • ‘Blood on the sand. Blood on the hands’: UN decries world’s failure as Sudan’s El Fasher falls. (UN News)

29 October

Reported massacre at hospital in Sudan’s El Fasher leaves 460 dead

Displaced families shelter at a gathering site in El Fasher in northern Darfur in August 2025.
Displaced families shelter at a gathering site in El Fasher in northern Darfur in August 2025 | © UNICEF

Horrific stories of mass-atrocities committed by the RSF militia continue to emerge, along with the tens of thousands of civilians who have fled the North Darfur city of El Fasher in Sudan (UN News)

  • WFP Statement regarding staff expulsions by Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (WFP)
  • No child safe in Al Fasher (UNICEF)
  • Inter-Agency Standing Committee Statement Sudan: A Call for Urgent International Response (IASC)
  • Statement on the reported massacre at El Fasher Maternity Hospital, North Darfur, Sudan by UNFPA Executive Director Diene Keita (UNFPA)
  • WHO condemns killings of patients and civilians amid escalating violence in El Fasher, Sudan (WHO)

28 October

  • Escalating violence in Sudan’s El Fasher forces thousands to flee (UNHCR)

27 October

  • Appalling reports of summary executions and other serious violations, as RSF makes major territorial gains in El Fasher and North Kordofan (OHCHR)
  • Statement attributable to the Spokesman of the Secretary-General – on Sudan (OSSG)

26 October

  • UN Relief Chief calls for protection of civilians and their access to aid in El Fasher (OCHA)

24 October

  • “Sudan is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis – and children are paying the highest price” (UNICEF)

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