The World’s Largest Silent Catastrophe: Sudan’s Unheard Crisis

By: Hinna Mohamed

Editor: Bronwen Smith

Editor-in-Chief: Grace Samuel

The opinions expressed in this article reflect the opinions of its author(s). They do not represent the views of the UCL International Relations Society, Circum Mundum or its Editorial Team.

Image credit: Darfur Refugee Camp in Chad, March 2005, Mark Knobil via Wikimedia Commons

Listening to Sudan means more than following headlines.  

How can thousands of families disappear from global attention while living in one of the most dangerous places on Earth? 

For decades, Darfur, a region in western Sudan, has been at the heart of conflict and displacement, yet the world’s attention has been uneven and fleeting. In the early 2000s, reports of mass killings, forced migration and famine briefly captured headlines, sparking temporary humanitarian responses. Today, many outside Sudan may feel they have already heard this story or assume prolonged conflict makes the suffering inevitable. This sense of distance (sometimes called ‘crisis fatigue’) can obscure the reality that millions are still at risk, communities remain fragile and lives continue to hang in the balance. Understanding the scale and severity of the situation is essential to grasp why Sudan’s current crisis, now the largest humanitarian emergency in the world, demands renewed attention and urgent action.

Understanding who is fighting and what that means for civilians reveals the depth of Sudan’s tragedy. The Rapid Support Forces, a powerful paramilitary group, operate outside the army’s command and have been accused of looting, attacking civilians and using sexual violence as a weapon of war. Opposing them, the Sudanese Armed Forces struggle to maintain control in a country already fractured by years of political chaos. In this battle for dominance, humanitarian workers risk their lives to deliver food, water and medicine, while their warehouses stand nearly empty and aid convoys come under fire. Caught between gunfire and starvation, civilians have nowhere left to turn. 

In El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, silence hides a brutal reality. Once a city of trade, schools and markets, El Fasher is now under the control of the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group notorious for using violence to seize territory. Families carry what little they can salvage through rubble. Children walk long distances for water that is not there. Hospitals struggle to operate without electricity or medicine. Tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped, cut off from humanitarian aid as fighting continues with the Sudanese Armed Forces, Sudan’s national military. For most of the world, El Fasher is only a name in news reports. For those living there, it is life or death every day. 

After the city fell to the RSF following a prolonged siege, nearly 90,000 people have fled, while thousands remain trapped inside. Survivors recount harrowing journeys, witnessing killings, abductions and sexual violence. Many reach makeshift camps near Tawila, about 70 kilometres away, only to face malnutrition and scarce supplies. Doctors Without Borders reports that more than 70% of children under five arriving after the fall of El Fasher are acutely malnourished and over a third suffer severe acute malnutrition. Humanitarian organisations like the International Organisation for Migration are providing what aid they can, but insecurity, blocked roads and depleted resources mean they are “only reaching a fraction of those in need,” according to IOM director general Amy Pope. 

To see only the siege of El Fasher, however, is to miss the full scale of the catastrophe. This city is one front in a war that has engulfed the entire nation of Sudan. The conflict has displaced over 10 million people, creating the largest internal displacement crisis in the world. Millions are facing emergency levels of hunger, and the collapse of the health system has allowed diseases like cholera to spread unchecked. The international response has been inadequate, failing to provide the funding and political pressure needed to stop the violence or sustain a meaningful aid operation. The world’s inaction has effectively abandoned the Sudanese people to a manmade famine. 

The courage of Sudanese women, children and volunteers deserves more than sympathy. It deserves action and solidarity. Seeing, listening and sharing their stories is not passive; bearing witness is a choice. El Fasher is not just a city in crisis; it is a test of whether the world can respond consistently with humanity when lives are at risk.