Tens of thousands of people are fleeing new fighting in southeast Sudan, as the war spreads further across the country, with civilians running out of anywhere safe to go.

The new clashes in Sennar State – one of Sudan’s biggest agricultural regions – are increasing the risk of famine across the country and putting a major humanitarian aid hub at risk, Islamic Relief is warning.

More than 60,000 people have fled Sinja town this week as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the area. Heavy fighting is now ongoing in the nearby key city of Sennar, with Islamic Relief staff and other aid workers among thousands who have had to leave the city in recent days due to the extreme insecurity.

Up to 130,000 people are expected to flee Sennar State in the next few days.

Islamic Relief staff report thousands of families now fleeing on foot across the Blue Nile river to try and escape the violence, with large numbers of people now arriving in the already overcrowded eastern Sudan cities of Gedaref and Kassala and many more likely to arrive in the coming days and weeks. Islamic Relief’s team in Gedaref is preparing to provide aid to new arrivals in the city.

There are growing fears that the fighting is now set to spread further east towards Gedaref, which is a key hub for humanitarian staff and supplies. This would be a pivotal moment in the conflict and massively disrupt the humanitarian response at a time when aid is needed more than ever. Islamic Relief staff in Gedaref report huge queues of cars at fuel stations as people stockpile in case they need to quickly abandon the city.

Sennar State was previously considered one of the safest parts of the country, and over the past year hundreds of thousands of civilians had fled here to escape fighting in other regions such as Khartoum and Al Jazira. Many of these people are now having to flee yet again.

Mohammad Sorwar, head of programmes for Islamic Relief in Sudan, says: “People are fleeing Sennar in a desperate state of terror. They’ve fled in a hurry with virtually nothing, and many families have no shelter and are sleeping under the open in the heavy rain. People are walking for days but there are no paved roads between Sennar and Gedaref and the roads have become muddy and difficult to use.

“The war is spreading across the country like a cancer. Many of the people fleeing have been displaced two, three, four or even more times before this, but the war keeps spreading. There are very few safe places left for people to run to. If the fighting reaches Gedaref it will have a devastating impact on aid delivery.”   

Sudan is suffering the world’s biggest hunger crisis, with more than 25 million people – over half the country’s population – facing severe hunger and food shortages, and mass starvation imminent in the next three months. The war has forced farmers from their land, destroyed markets and obstructed humanitarian aid.

More than 10 million people are now displaced from their homes and in need of support within Sudan.

Islamic Relief is calling on the international community to step up diplomatic efforts to get parties to the conflict to agree and adhere to a ceasefire, and to urgently increase funding for the humanitarian response. It is calling for parties to the conflict to recommit to peace negotiations, ensure protection of civilians and end the frequent impediments and obstruction of humanitarian aid. 

Islamic Relief has worked in Sudan for 40 years, since 1984. In response to the current crisis the organisation has provided aid to more than 830,000 people including food, nutrition, livelihood support, cash, water, sanitation, and healthcare.

It is 1 year since a brutal war erupted in Sudan (read here), pushing the country to the verge of famine and creating the world’s biggest displacement crisis. Many of Islamic Relief’s own staff have been deeply affected by the violence.

Elsadig Elnour, Islamic Relief’s Country Director in Sudan, reflects on the events of the past year as the war has spread across the country:

Since 15 April 2023 I’ve seen my country descend into violence, madness and destruction, neglected by the rest of the world. No one expected this to happen.

I was living in Khartoum when the war erupted. Now I’m in Port Sudan, on the Red Sea coast, in one of the few parts of the country still free from the violence. After this there is nowhere else to go other than into the sea. Unless there’s a change very soon, the country may collapse.

Everyone has lost everything. Everyone is traumatised. That’s how it feels to be Sudanese at this moment. We have lost loved ones, property, jobs, and the futures that we planned. Even the rich have become poor.

I spent the first 4 weeks of the war in Khartoum, barricaded under a bed with my family as shelling, airstrikes and street combat raged around us. My 2-month-old granddaughter came from the United States to visit us just before the fighting started. I had to watch her and her mother huddle with the rest of the family under the bed. It was very painful for me to see that.

Bodies lined the roads. Going outside at any time was risky because these armed groups can simply decide to shoot you. Armed men went into houses, killing people, taking their belongings, raping women and carrying them away. We knew this could happen to us too. I was terrified for the girls in our household and the thought of my 2 sons, aged 26 and 27, being taken away and forced to fight.

We decided we had to leave Khartoum for the city of Gedaref in the southeast. The road was extremely dangerous. Armed men stopped us at a checkpoint and began harassing me in front of my family. I knew they wanted our car and needed me to become angry so they had an excuse to take it. They could have killed us all. I told my 2 sons not to react to the insults. After some time, we were allowed to leave, but that incident – after all the stress of the weeks before – has left scars on all of us. My sons have refused to discuss it since then.

As the conflict moves, so do we

Over the past year the conflict has spread to almost every corner of the country.

In December I was in Sudan’s second largest city, Wad Madani, when it was attacked. Hundreds of thousands more people were displaced. I managed to escape, but those attacks have changed the dynamics of the conflict. As the fighting has spread it has reached into many of the country’s main breadbasket regions, further disrupting food production. Farmers can’t reach their fields to plant and harvest their crops as it’s too dangerous.

As the fighting has moved further east, we had to move Islamic Relief’s main office, first from Khartoum to Gedaref and then from Gedaref to Port Sudan.

I have thought many times about leaving Sudan. But I love my country and I want to help my people through this terrible war. I am so proud of my team, who continue to serve our country despite everything we have lost ourselves. My own home in Khartoum is occupied by an armed group right now. The homes of 2 of my colleagues were hit by airstrikes. We are displaced people, serving other displaced people. Aid agencies like Islamic Relief are doing vital work and thanks to support from all over the world we have provided aid to more than 600,000 people across the country. But ultimately, we need peace.

Please don’t forget us. Please don’t forget Sudan.

On 15 April 2023, the lives of millions of Sudanese people were brutally ripped apart.

Fierce street battles broke out in the usually peaceful capital city of Khartoum. Families fled as bullets and shells tore indiscriminately through heavily populated neighbourhoods and bodies piled high in the streets.

Since then, a tornado of chaos has engulfed Sudan.

The war has spread to almost every corner of the country – turning urban neighbourhoods into rubble, destroying infrastructure and public services, and burning villages to the ground. Markets and hospitals have been attacked and fighting has affected many of the main agricultural regions.

Now, Sudan is on the verge of famine, with children starving to death. It is too dangerous for many farmers to access their fields and this year’s harvests are projected to be among the worst ever. The economy is collapsing at a staggering rate, pushing many families deep into poverty at a time when food prices are also rocketing. Much of the health system is destroyed and deadly diseases are spreading. Thousands of people have been killed and 24.8 million people – almost half the entire population – now need humanitarian assistance.

There is a risk that Sudan could collapse as a functioning state, which would have enormous regional and global impact.

Craving home and peace

The war has created the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, with 8.4 million people forced to flee their homes. 2 million of them are children under 5 years old.

Among the millions of displaced people are 23-year-old Gesma and her young children, who ran for their lives as bullets whizzed around their small house on the edge of Khartoum. Gesma’s husband was out at work in the market, and she hoped to reunite somewhere safer. But she never heard from him again and doesn’t even know if he’s still alive.

Gesma was heavily pregnant when she escaped Khartoum and a few months later she gave birth to twins in a sprawling camp in eastern Sudan. She named them Watan (meaning Home) and Salaam (meaning Peace) – 2 things that millions of people in Sudan crave more than anything else but remain out of reach.

Sudanese communities are renowned for their generosity and impoverished families have given shelter to many of the displaced people – sharing their homes, food and water with them.

Islamic Relief CEO Waseem Ahmad says: “As rich nations increasingly shut their borders and cut international aid, it is both humbling and heartening to see the generosity of some of the world’s poorest communities.

“I’m inspired by our staff in Sudan who have suffered so much but remain dedicated to helping their country. Most of them have made perilous journeys to flee their homes and have lost relatives and friends. Sudan has become one of the most dangerous places to be a humanitarian worker. But despite the dangers, it is possible to deliver aid and Islamic Relief’s team has saved countless lives.”

A fatal lack of attention

Thanks to donations from all over the world, Islamic Relief has reached more than 600,000 people across Sudan with vital aid – providing food to families at risk of malnutrition, supporting overwhelmed health facilities, and providing hygiene and dignity kits to displaced women.

But the scale of the crisis means that much more is needed. The violence recalls the atrocities 20 years ago, when the crisis in Darfur – in western Sudan – became the most prominent in the world. Global leaders convened summits, A-list celebrities led huge public rallies, and eye-witness reports made TV headlines and front pages.

In comparison, today’s crisis is being forgotten or ignored.

This lack of attention has deadly consequences. A quarter of the way through the year, the UN-led 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Sudan has received just 5% of the $2.7 billion it needs. The 2023 appeal ended up less than half funded.

After a year of unimaginable horror, the people of Sudan urgently need more international attention and support.

Islamic Relief is calling for renewed efforts to secure an immediate ceasefire and a negotiated political settlement. Civilians must be protected. Parties to the conflict must ensure safe humanitarian access to people in need, and international governments must step up humanitarian assistance to prevent a catastrophic famine.