Sudan emergency

Deadly armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan and the resumption of inter-communal violence in the Darfur region has forced millions of people from their homes. Since the violence broke out on 15 April 2023, many civilians have been killed, while hundreds of thousands of families have been on the move, in dire need of protection and assistance.

Many are arriving at remote border areas, finding very few services to support them. Most of those displaced are women and children and other vulnerable people such as the elderly, people with disabilities, and people with medical conditions.

Recent heavy fighting in central Al Jazirah State and in the western Darfur region has forced hundreds of thousands more people from their homes. Sites housing internally displaced people have not escaped the violence while the rainy season has worsened already dire conditions and contributed to outbreaks of cholera and malaria.

Vital infrastructure is collapsing and access to basic services such as safe water, healthcare and shelter is severely limited. Millions of children are facing acute levels of food insecurity and more than a dozen regions are teetering on the brink of famine. In Zamzam camp in North Darfur, where aid agencies have struggled to secure access, famine conditions have already been confirmed.

What is UNHCR doing to help?  

UNHCR emergency teams have been working around the clock with authorities and partners to support new arrivals in countries neighbouring Sudan, including Chad, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. UNHCR is providing life-saving support and relocating newly arrived refugees to existing and new camps away from borders.

More than 660,000 South Sudanese refugees who had been living in Sudan before the conflict have returned to their country. UNHCR is working closely with local authorities to run transit centres near the border and to help returnees who wish to travel onwards to their home areas.

Meanwhile, inside Sudan, UNHCR is assisting both refugees and internally displaced people with shelter, health care, psychosocial support, protection, cash assistance and non-food items, as the security situation allows.

To scale up support, UNHCR is working with host governments to coordinate a regional response plan with 140 partners, including UN agencies, national and international NGOs, and civil society groups, to assist refugees, returnees, and third-country nationals in five neighbouring countries.