Cairo (EFE).- As Sudan enters its third year of civil war, the United Nations has declared the country the site of the world’s largest displacement crisis, with nearly 12.5 million people forced to flee their homes.
That figure represents roughly 15% of all internally displaced persons worldwide, according to a new report released by the UN’s International Organization for Migration (OIM).
The conflict began on Apr. 15, 2023, when tensions between Sudan’s military, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Forces (RSF), commanded by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, exploded into open war in the capital, Khartoum.
Since then, fighting has devastated large portions of the country and left million in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
The war, initially a power struggle between former allies following Sudan’s 2021 military coup, has escalated into a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe.
According to the World Health Organization, over 30 million people, more than half of Sudan’s population, including 16 million children, now require aid.
The International Committee of the Red Cross warns that famine looms unless safe corridors are opened and emergency funding is secured.
Displacement on an unprecedented scale
The IOM reports that 11.3 million people remain displaced within Sudan, while nearly 4 million have sought refuge in neighboring countries such as Egypt, which now hosts 1.5 million Sudanese.
Over the past year alone, the number of people displaced across borders has nearly doubled.
In a rare positive development, the IOM recorded the first decrease in internally displaced persons in Mar. 2025, as roughly 400,000 Sudanese returned to the states of Sennar, Al Jazirah, and parts of Khartoum.
Military gains, but no peace in sight
While Sudanese government forces recaptured Khartoum in late March after nearly two years of RSF occupation, the broader war shows no signs of resolution.
The paramilitary group has retreated to western Sudan, particularly Darfur, its historic stronghold and the site of a previous genocide in the early 2000s that left an estimated 300,000 dead.
The RSF, originally formed from the notorious Janjaweed militias, still controls significant territory in Darfur and parts of Kordofan.
This past weekend, the group seized Zamzam, a vast displacement camp near the Darfur capital of Al-Fashir, where more than 350 people were reportedly killed during a new offensive. Zamzam housed nearly half a million civilians.
Despite recent military gains by the Sudanese Armed Forces, there is little prospect of a political solution.
International mediation efforts, most notably in Saudi Arabia, have failed due to both sides’ refusal to compromise.
The RSF has attempted to establish a parallel government in Darfur, while the military asserts its legitimacy as the state’s rightful authority but lacks a coherent reconciliation plan.
The consequences of the ime are staggering. Some estimates place the death toll as high as 150,000.
The UN reports that 4.9 million children under five, pregnant women, and nursing mothers suffered acute malnutrition last year, a 22% increase from 2023.
Aid efforts are repeatedly disrupted by attacks on hospitals, looting on supplies, and unsafe roads.
For US policymakers, Sudan’s spiraling crisis presents a critical foreign policy challenge in a region already destabilized by ongoing conflicts in Ethiopia and the Sahel.
Washington has previously imposed sanction and called for ceasefires, but critics say more decisive action, including for humanitarian corridors and ability mechanisms, is urgently needed.
As Sudan begins its third year of war, the OIM warns that millions of families may soon return to devastated communities with no infrastructure, healthcare, or schools.
“This is not just Sudan’s crisis”, said the IOM spokesperson. “It’s a global one, and it demands global attention.” EFE
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