Sudan

As Sudan’s civil war intensified on Monday, top UN officials condemned the killing of dozens of children in drone strikes in South Kordofan state – and the targeting of first responders trying to help the wounded. 

Sudan has been in a state of open war since April 2023, resulting in a profound humanitarian disaster and heightened regional instability. It is a complex situation shaped both by domestic challenges, such as political and military fragmentation, competition over resources, and mass displacement, and by geopolitical dynamics driven by external actors and their competing interests. The conflict has been called “the forgotten war,” and despite ongoing massacres there has been no concerted international or regional effort to intervene. 

Gulf Arab leaders on Wednesday welcomed a joint push by Saudi Arabia and the United States to end the war in Sudan, backing a recent pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene at the request of the Saudi Crown Prince.

Sudan and Russia have reportedly resumed discussions over a long-delayed 2017 agreement that would provide Moscow with its first naval installation in Africa, offering military access to the Red Sea in exchange for Sudan receiving advanced weaponry.

Civilians across Sudan’s Kordofan region are facing extreme hardship as conflict intensifies, warned the UN aid coordination office (OCHA) on Wednesday. … Meanwhile, the situation in and around El Fasher – which UN relief chief Tom Fletcher called a “potential crime scene” following its capture by militia fighters, during his visit last month — remains dire. Civilians attempting to escape continue to face grave risks along unsafe routes.

US President Donald Trump's envoy for Africa, Massad Boulos, on Tuesday urged Sudan's rival commanders to accept an international ceasefire proposal "without preconditions" in a conflict that has devastated the country for more than two years.

The UN Country Team in Sudan met in Khartoum on Monday – the first time it has convened in the capital since conflict erupted in April 2023. The 28 agencies, funds and programmes have maintained their presence and operations from the coastal city of Port Sudan amid the brutal fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

United States President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he intends to turn his focus to helping find a resolution to the civil war in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The announcement came after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman used his first trip to Washington in seven years to urge the US leader to intervene in the conflict.

UN relief chief Tom Fletcher held “useful” and “tough” discussions with the two sides battling for control of Sudan this week, pushing for access to aid for those in desperate need, he told journalists in New York on Monday. 

Members of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday adopted a resolution for an independent fact-finding mission to investigate reported mass killings in al-Fashir, Sudan. At a special session of the Council in Geneva on the situation in the city in Darfur which fell to paramilitary forces in October, the text passed without a vote - a strong sign of international support.