The United Nations Security Council Meets on Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Sudan. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elías
By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 8 2025 (IPS)
As the Civil War rages on in Sudan, the nationwide humanitarian crisis continues to worsen. Armed conflict has caused an escalation in civilian casualties and displacement in the past few months. Additionally, famine looms in the nation’s most conflict-impacted areas, which is exacerbated by tightened restrictions that impede humanitarian aid deliveries. Despite numerous calls for a cessation of hostilities by the international community, relief efforts are severely underfunded.
In 2025, humanitarian organizations seek to assist approximately 21 million people in Sudan, which is roughly half of the country’s population. However, this number is projected to increase following the escalation of armed hostilities recorded in December of 2024. According to a report from the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), the ongoing siege in El Fasher, the capital city of Sudan, left at least 782 dead and 1,143 injured from May 2024 to December 2024.
According to Edem Wosornu, the Director of Operations and Advocacy for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Zamzam refugee camp, the nation’s largest refuge for internally displaced persons, has faced severe shelling in the final weeks of 2024. Approximately 80 people were killed and 400 were injured as a result of artillery shelling in western Darfur. Civilians and humanitarian aid groups, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF), have attributed these casualties to hostilities perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Nathaniel Raymond, the executive director of Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, described the current situation in the Zamzam camp as a “kill box”. The escalation of warfare has forced Sudanese refugees to move toward dangerous RSF territories or toward the barren deserts where they face the risk of starvation. “We can see from space people camping under trees, on the side of the road. They’re going out of the frying pan and into the fire,” said Raymond, adding that many of these people have been severely injured or immunocompromised.
On January 6 2025, the United Nations (UN) Security Council warned that famine conditions are projected to spread throughout Sudan if humanitarian organizations do not effectively intervene soon. According to Wosornu, famine is present in five areas, including the Zamzam, Al Salam, and Abu Shouk camps, as well as regions in the western Nuba Mountains.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) states that five additional regions, including Um Kadada and El Fasher, as well as 17 other high-risk areas, could face severe famine-like conditions by mid-2025. Women, children, and the elderly are predicted to be disproportionately affected.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Deputy Director Beth Bechdol, the vast scale of famine is a direct result of extended warfare, displacement, and restricted humanitarian access. Additionally, the IPC report states that “only an immediate cessation of hostilities can prevent the crisis from worsening.”
It is crucial for humanitarian organizations to have unimpeded access to critically endangered areas in Sudan. The Adre border crossing, which provides direct passage from Chad to some of Sudan’s most affected areas, has seen numerous delays and blockages of aid. According to Wosornu, “key areas in South Kordofan are effectively cut off from external assistance,” while “visas for humanitarian personnel are not being granted swiftly enough”.
The start of 2025 is a major tipping point for the Sudan crisis as action must be taken now to ensure stability for millions of Sudanese people. Bechdol states that “immediate and unimpeded” humanitarian access is urgent at this time for humanitarian organizations to be able to deliver “multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance”.
The 2025 Humanitarian Needs Response Plan seeks approximately 4.2 billion dollars to provide life-saving assistance to 21 million Sudanese civilians that are struggling to stay alive. The funding from this plan would help to restore basic services such as access to food, water, and shelter, as well as protection services. “The risk of famine and its spread has been on our collective conscience since August, and now it is here, not only with people dying from hunger, but also with a breakdown of health systems, livelihoods and social structures,” warns Bechdol.
IPS UN Bureau Report
