Analysis

No Lessons Learned: Sudan’s relentless march through crisis

29 May 2025
In Analysis, Opinion, SAF RSF fighting

Tayfor Alamin

The war in South Sudan between the Sudanese government and Anyana from 1955 to 1972 is estimated to have caused half a million deaths. Between 1983 and 2002, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and the government caused more than two million deaths. A study released by the United States Committee for Refugees revealed that between 1983 and 1998,1.9 million people lost their lives. These deaths suppress the death toll in any other civil war anywhere in the world during that time; at least one out of five Southern Sudanese individuals lost their lives. 1,9 million deaths were caused by the violence of war, war-related famine and diseases, government policies that spread conflict, and blocked the relief efforts by the United Nations and Humanitarian agencies. Approximately 5 million people were displaced, nearly 80% of the South Sudanese population. Over 4 million were internally displaced, and nearly 350.000 sought refuge in six neighbouring countries.

The fighting from 2003 to 2008 between the Sudanese army (SAF) and the Darfurian rebel movements resulted in over 300,000 deaths in Darfur, more than 2.7 million were displaced, and nearly 260,000 fled to neighbouring Chad. The SAF and its Militias committed a Genocide in Darfur. The SAF deliberately used aerial bombardment in villages belonging to the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit and targeted political activists from these tribes by arbitrary arrests and torture. Chemical weapons were also used in Jabal Marra. The violence in Darfur has never stopped since early 2003. It was one of the largest humanitarian crises in the early 21^st century.

History repeats itself

Today’s figures reveal that Sudan is once again experiencing the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. This crisis echoes past conflicts; throughout these wars, commentators, scholars, and Sudanese intellectuals have repeatedly raised the same concerns and demanded a peaceful resolution and political accommodation. Although the Sadun’s regime has signed tens of peace agreements, none of these agreements have achieved what they intended to achieve. This is because the regime’s goal has always been to buy politicians, rather than addressing these political issues and genuinely implementing these agreements (Alex De Wall, 2015). During all these periods, human rights organizations have repeatedly reported the same thing; ‘’warring parties violated the war laws, civilians were attacked, there were summary executions, arbitrary detentions, looting and destruction of civilian property, and recruitment of underage soldiers, and the use of militias”.

The fighting between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and SAF forced over 12 million people to flee their homes, more than 3,3 million sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Civilians are losing their lives every day, and the vast majority of people are facing famine. Atrocities have been committed across the fighting zone by both warring parties, including the use of chemical weapons. The crisis has worsened with each passing day, leaving us helplessly witnessing the crisis unfolding with no end and no hope for accountability and justice for victims.

The scale of today’s crisis

According to the latest figures from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), between December 24 and May 2025, 30.4 million Sudanese people are in need of humanitarian assistance. 24.6 million people are facing a high level of acute food insecurity (IPC3+). IPC is the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). IPC has five phases, which are used to provide the scale of the severity and magnitude of food insecurity and acute malnutrition. IPC3, IPC4, and IPC5 require urgent action to be taken; for Phase 3 to protect livelihoods and reduce food consumption gaps, Phase 4 to save lives and livelihoods, and Phase 5 to prevent widespread death and total collapse of livelihoods. 24.6 million people, which is nearly half of the Sudanese population, are in Phase 3 or higher. 637 thousand people are facing catastrophic food insecurity, which is IPC5. 3,7 million children under five years and pregnant and breastfeeding women are in need of treatment for acute malnutrition in 2025. Today, the cholera outbreak is taking hundreds of people’s lives. Although the international community has responded with generosity and great support, the plan will only cover 20,9 million people out of the 30,9 million affected. The scale of the crisis is unimaginable.

To alleviate this catastrophic crisis and put an end to the war, the warring parties must come to the negotiating table to achieve a lasting peace. The longer it’s prolonged, the more complex it becomes, and more lives will be lost. The world should unite to respond collectively to bring these belligerents to the negotiation table.

The author is a Sudanese human rights advocate, recipient of the Civil Society Leadership Award 2018 from the Open Society Foundation, and holds a master’s degree in international social policy from the School of Sociology and Social Policy, the University of Nottingham, UK. Bachelor’s degree in development studies from the Faculty of Socio-Economic Science, Cavendish University, Uganda.

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