Sudan War Leaves More Than 8,000 People Missing

The International Committee of the Red Cross states that more than 8,000 people have gone missing during Sudan's three-year war. Families continue searching for relatives while forensic teams exhume bodies from unmarked graves.

Sudan's conflict between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed thousands and displaced millions. The fighting has continued for three years across multiple regions including Khartoum state. In Khartoum state, bodies have been buried hastily in homes, sports fields, and roadsides.

Dr. Hisham Zienalabdien, director general of the forensic medicine department for Khartoum state, said the Rapid Support Forces forbade burials in cemeteries during the conflict.

Abdallah has been searching for her husband Fahmy al-Fateh for over a year. He called to say he would stop at the market before returning home from military duties but never arrived. Sulafa Mustafa keeps a photograph and shirt belonging to her son Suleiman Abdelsaid, who went missing in 2024 at age 18.

Staff from Sudan's Forensic Medicine Corporation exhumed the body of Mohammed Alsawi, 73, in Omdurman on April 20, 2026. A computer screen at Al Nao Hospital in Omdurman displays records of unidentified bodies in the missing persons database.