Sudan's Conflict Reaches Fourth Year: Over 14 Million Displaced, Widespread Hunger Affects Half the Population

Sudan's war between the Sudanese Armed Forces under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo has entered its fourth year, with famine spreading in North Darfur and parts of Greater Kordofan as of April 2026.

5 million refugees in neighboring countries. Over 25 million people, more than 50% of the population, are going hungry, and approximately 61% of health facilities in the country have been destroyed.

The UN Fact-Finding Mission report from February 2026 documents hallmarks of genocide against the Zaghawa and Fur communities in El Fasher, where the RSF acted with intent to destroy these groups in whole or in part. El Fasher, the last city in Darfur under Sudanese army and allied forces control, fell to the RSF on October 26, 2025, after an 18-month siege that systematically weakened the population through starvation, deprivation, trauma, and confinement, according to a UN report.

In the first three days after the capture, at least 6,000 killings were documented, including 4,400 inside the city and 1,600 along escape routes, with the actual death toll from the week-long offensive undoubtedly higher.

The governor of Darfur reported 27,000 killed in those first three days, while Confluence Advisory estimated 100,000 deaths in the offensive. The Yale Humanitarian Research Lab assessed that of the 250,000 civilians remaining in El Fasher, nearly all had been killed, died, been displaced, or were in hiding.

Survivor testimony indicates RSF fighters targeted men and boys under 50 for killing or abduction, systematically raped women and girls from the Zaghawa and Fur communities—often in groups for hours or days—and often spared those perceived as Arab.

Nearly six months after El Fasher fell, the front has shifted to Kordofan. The UN Security Council imposed sanctions on four RSF commanders, including deputy commander Abdul Rahim Hamdan Dagalo, in February 2026. In 2024, about half a million people died of hunger and disease in Sudan, according to various estimates.

External actors have fueled the conflict, with the United Arab Emirates supplying weapons and financing to the RSF, according to the Congressional Research Service, while also co-hosting the Jeddah mediation process with the United States and Saudi Arabia.

Russia has armed both sides through the Wagner Group and its successor Africa Corps, and held negotiations with the SAF over a naval base at Port Sudan. Egypt provides logistical and arms support to the SAF, Iran supplies drones to the SAF, and Ukrainian special forces reportedly accompanied SAF units at times.

U.S. and Saudi Arabia in 2023, collapsed by late 2023. S. dollars, but by mid-2024, less than 40 percent had arrived. S. foreign assistance by executive order for 90 days on January 20, 2025, leading to USAID's formal dissolution and folding into the State Department on July 1, 2025.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the termination of 5,200 contracts on July 1, 2025. Around 86 percent of foreign aid programs were terminated after the USAID dissolution, according to the Century Foundation. S.

Provided close to 50 percent of all humanitarian aid to Sudan before the cuts, according to Operation Broken Silence. Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan were funded 75 to 80 percent by USAID. Before the executive order, 742 community kitchens in Khartoum fed around 816,000 people, according to NBC News.

After the funding freeze, 80 percent of community kitchens in Khartoum closed within weeks, and nationwide, about 1,500 of 1,460 kitchens shut down, according to Middle East Eye. 8 million people in famine-affected areas lost access to food after the USAID cuts. The Famine Early Warning System, FEWS NET, was taken offline after the cuts.

Britain and the EU cut their development budgets in 2025 to free up money for defence, and the UK development minister resigned in March 2025 in protest against the cuts. Budget lines relevant to Sudan in the 2026 German federal budget are down by several hundred million euros in real terms compared to 2023.