Sudan crisis
Fighting broke out between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum, Sudan, on 15 April 2023. The fighting rapidly spread to many other urban areas across the country, with all regions of Darfur particularly affected. Although both sides are currently discussing a possible truce in Saudi Arabia, there is no definitive sign of a cessation in fighting. Before the fighting broke out, humanitarian agencies expressed concern that up to a third of the Sudanese population were in need of assistance. The fighting has amplified an already dire situation and created new, interconnected crises including mass forced displacement, major disruptions to the provision of health care and food insecurity.
This page provides links to articles, blogs and relevant news media about the historical and socio-political dynamics underpinning recent events in Sudan. It also includes blogs from Sudanese social scientists who have been caught up in the violence. This page will be updated regularly with additional material and briefs in the coming weeks and months.
Photo credit: Amr Nabil / Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
Sudanese evacuees wait under a plane at Port Sudan airport, Thursday, May 11, 2023.
Briefing
Female genital mutilation among Sudanese displaced populations in Egypt
A Key Considerations brief considering the drivers and dynamics of FGM practices in the context of forced displacement to inform culturally sensitive strategies for FGM prevention and response.
Briefing
Mutual aid lessons and experiences from Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan
A Key Considerations brief based on the first case study of the volunteer networks known as Emergency Response Rooms, conducted June to August 2024.
Briefing
Humanitarian responses to famine and war in Sudan
This Key Considerations brief offers key information about the background to the civil war in Sudan, responses to the humanitarian crisis and reasons why relief has been inadequate, setting out opportunities to push against the obstacles or constraints to relief.
Briefing
Crisis in Sudan: Briefing note on displacement from Sudan to South Sudan
This Key Considerations brief focuses on the historical and socio-political dynamics humanitarian agencies need to consider when providing assistance to South Sudanese fleeing Khartoum and other parts of Sudan to South Sudan, and to Sudanese fleeing Sudan to South Sudan.
Infographic
Crisis in Sudan: Note on displacement from Sudan to South Sudan
This infographic summarises the insights from a recent briefing note on displacement due to the crisis in Sudan.
Case study
Strengthening health information surveillance: Implementing community-based surveillance in Sudan
This case study explores the 2018–22 implementation of a national community-based surveillance programme in Sudan designed to meet critical needs of the existing health surveillance system.
Blog
A widow’s story of survival and humanitarianism in the Sudans
The story of Nyapuottek, a widow from the Sudanese war, illustrates how fraught it can be to navigate changing relations during times of conflict and migration, and how such struggles can intersect with humanitarian initiatives.
Briefing
Sudan: Humanitarian access snapshot
This briefing note gives a snapshot of the humanitarian access situation in Sudan following the start of fighting in April 2023 as well as some insights into the overall humanitarian access situation since the military takeover in October 2021.
Report
Sudan: Update on the humanitarian situation with a focus on the impact on healthcare
This thematic report provides an update on the impact of conflict on Sudan’s healthcare system using a secondary data review of public sources.
Briefing
Sudan: Conflict briefing note
This briefing note describes the impact of the Sudan crisis on provision and humanitarian constraints.
Article
Sudan hunger: ‘Children are facing the threat of death’
A news article looking at the crisis in Sudan.
Briefing
High food prices, flooding and inter-communal clashes continue driving high needs
A Sudan food security outlook update describing different drivers of food insecurity among a range of vulnerable population groups.
Article
A critical juncture for Sudan’s democratic transition
An expert commentary describing how international pressure is essential to reach an agreement that establishes a credible civilian government.
Briefing
One year after the coup: What next for Sudan’s Juba Peace Agreement?
This briefing considers the changing political situation in Sudan, exploring how the relationship between two key factions in the conflict has complicated discussions around the formation of a new political arrangement in Sudan.
Book chapter
Comparing peace processes: Sudan
This chapter examines how contests over military control were played out during peace negotiations and in the implementation of agreements in Sudan between 2002 and 2011.
Briefing
Protection analysis update
This update analyses priority protection risks and recommendations with findings based on an analysis of protection monitoring actors and assessments by the Protection Sector, its AoRs, protection partners and reports produced by other agencies.
Research paper
Peace and the security sector in Sudan, 2002–11
This paper examines how contests over military control were played out during peace negotiations and in the implementation of agreements (including the manipulation or violation of the terms of agreements) in Sudan between 2002 and 2011.
Research paper
Beyond scarcity: Rethinking water, climate change and conflict in the Sudans
This article critiques the emphasis on ‘scarcity’, ‘state failure’ and ‘under-development’ within discussions of environmental security, proposing instead an alternative model of environment-conflict relations.
Research paper
Sudan: International dimensions to the state and its crisis
This paper locates the internationalisation of Sudanese governance in a historical context.
Research paper
The Lord’s Resistance Army in Sudan: A history and overview
This study examines the military history of the LRA in Sudan, the prospects for ending the conflict and the main challenges facing the peace talks.
Research paper
Conflict, trade and the medium-term future of food security in Sudan
This article considers that the classic neoliberal prescription of peace, growth and foreign investment may deepen (and obscure) the needs and grievances of those historically left behind in a dysfunctional development process.
Article
Egypt: Police target Sudanese refugee activists
This Human Rights Watch article describes the political conditions and recent experiences of Sudanese refugees in Egypt which may shape how current Sudanese refugees are treated in the country.
Research paper
Sudan’s political marketplace in 2021: Public and political finance, the Juba agreement and contests
This paper examines the continuities and changes in Sudan’s political economy and political marketplace since the popular uprising in 2019 and the subsequent formation of a military-civilian transitional government.
Blog
The ‘real politics’ of taxation in post-revolutionary Sudan
Matthew Benson and, Raga Makawi describe Sudan's tax system and plans to search for domestic tax revenue to respond to economic, political and social uncertainty.
Report
Assessment of communication, community engagement and accountability in Sudan
An assessment of response-wide communication, community engagement and accountability (CCEA) work with the affected population in Sudan.
Blog
The Sudan uprising and its possibilities: Regional revolution, generational revolution, and an end to Islamist politics?
Willow Berridge discusses parallels between the popular uprising in 2019 and Sudan’s two previous popular uprisings, the October Revolution of 1964 and the April Intifada of 1985.
Research paper
Sudan: A political marketplace framework analysis
This paper provides a succinct analysis of Sudan as a political marketplace, offering a framework for analysing the Sudanese predicament so as to understand the implications of different courses of action.
Research paper
Political economy of violence against women in Sudan
An analysis of the main socio-economic, political and cultural factors contributing to the emergence and perpetuation of violence against women, especially in conflict-prone areas.
Report
Sudanese refugees in Chad: Passing the baton to no one
This Refugees International report describes the conditions faced by Sudanese refugees in Chad in recent history.
Research paper
Darfur refugees in Egypt: Suffering out of the spotlight
This paper describes the conditions faced by Sudanese refugees in Egypt in recent history.
