A Year into the Sudan Conflict, an Urgent Call to Address One of the World’s Gravest Crisis

A year ago tomorrow, the people of Sudan awoke to a nightmare. Fierce fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum and other parts of the country. The warring sides turned bustling neighborhoods into battle zones, killing thousands, leaving bodies in the streets, and trapping civilians in their homes without adequate food, water, and medicines. 

The U.S. is pledging an additional $100 million in emergency food assistance, nutrition support, and other life-saving aid to respond to this conflict, which has become one of the world’s gravest crises. 

Five million people are on the brink of famine. 

Eight million people have been forced to flee their homes – the largest displacement crisis in the world. 

25 million people – more than half the population – are in need of humanitarian assistance, with the conflict driving widespread shortages of life-saving supplies, services, and food. 

Equally alarming are the horrific atrocities and war crimes committed by both the RSF and SAF, including deadly attacks on civilians and using rape and other forms of gender-based violence as a tactic to terrorize and subjugate communities. Masalit civilians have been hunted down and left for dead in the streets, their homes set on fire, and told that there is no place in Sudan for them. We are deeply alarmed at reports of escalating fighting in and around El Fasher and the further deterioration of the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding there. 

Our commitment of additional resources underscores that USAID remains steadfast in our support for the Sudanese people. Following the outbreak of hostilities, we rapidly deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team to help our partners deliver humanitarian assistance to people in need both inside Sudan and to those forced to flee the country. USAID partners have reached nearly 6.7 million people with emergency food and nutrition assistance and more than 8 million people with safe drinking water since the conflict began. 

The announcement of more than $100 million in humanitarian assistance brings total U.S. humanitarian aid to more than $1 billion since the conflict began. The United States remains the largest single donor of humanitarian assistance for the emergency response in Sudan and neighboring countries. As leaders from the U.S. government join other delegations in Paris for the International Humanitarian Conference for Sudan and its Neighbors, we call on others to join us in increasing support to the people of Sudan and urgently mobilizing additional support for the Sudanese response. 

Increasing resources for this underfunded response is essential so that humanitarians can provide necessities like food, water, and medical care. To prevent famine and even more suffering, however, the SAF and RSF must stop hindering humanitarian access and participate in good faith negotiations to reach a ceasefire. Sudanese civilians continue to demand an end to the war, document international humanitarian law violations and human rights abuses, and bravely lead efforts to provide aid to fellow Sudanese in need. They need the support of the international community. It is Sudan’s civilians who should define their country’s path going forward and restore a democratic transition.