XUNICEF News and Views

Renk transit center that is hosting hundreds of thousand of people fleeing the conflict in Sudan. Photo: Herison Philip Osfaldo/Oxfam The article recounts Oxfam Humanitarian Program Officer Waeil Musa’s experience of living and working through the conflict in Sudan, including the loss of his home, separation from his family, and eventual displacement. 

 

Nutrition Survey Finds Unprecedented Level of Child Malnutrition in Sudan's North Darfur / UN Describes El-Fasher as "Crime Scene" After First Access Author: UNICEF Press Release / Faisal Ali and News Agencies Publication: UNICEF / Al Jazeera Date: December 29-30, 2025 Click here for the UNICEF article / Click here for the Al Jazeera article Summary A UN team gained access to el-Fasher on December 27 for the first time since the RSF takeover on October 26, describing the largely deserted city as a "crime scene."

Attack on UN Forces in South Kordofan Poses New Risks of Sudan's Civil War Spreading into South Sudan Sudan's civil war has become increasingly difficult to follow, as battle lines shift rapidly between the RSF paramilitary and the Sudanese Army. The latest fighting centers on oil fields straddling the Sudan-South Sudan border—resources critical to both countries' survival. The country that was divided in two in 2011 now faces a potential partition into three: western Sudan controlled by the RSF, South Sudan, and a diminished Sudan in the east. Many UNICEF staff have worked in South Kordofan since a water programme office opened there in the late 1970s. Many others have worked further south in Abyei, a major flashpoint between northern and southern Sudan for decades. Ownership of the area around Abyei has been contested between northern and southern tribes for centuries. When South Sudan gained independence in July 2011, Abyei was deliberately excluded from the border agr...

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Filippo Grandi (@filippograndi) https://www.instagram.com/p/DSDSaVfjN-I/?igsh=b2E1cjEwbHRwZTQ2  

  Dear Friends, I regret having to write you again about the famine and horrors caused by the civil war in Sudan - and to ask for your support of the brave, often young, Sudanese who are working on the ground to feed the famished and treat the sick and wounded in local Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs). But the disaster is at least as horrific as it was when I last wrote. And the work of the ERRs remains as brave and important… and dangerous … as ever.

Sudan's Military Ruler Attacks Trump's Envoy in Fiery Speech Author: Sudan War Monitor Publication: Sudan War Monitor Date: November 24, 2025 Click here for the article Summary: General Abdelfattah al-Burhan, Sudan's military ruler, delivered a scathing address accusing U.S. envoy Massad Boulos of lacking neutrality and serving as "a channel for RSF narratives" backed by the United Arab Emirates.

Heart-wrenching testimony. Viviane ‘I still can't believe I'm alive’: Sudanese civilians recount their flight from El Fasher – video Kaamil Ahmed The Guardian November 14, 2025

Sudan’s Life-Saving Community Kitchens on Verge of Collapse Barbara Plett Usher BBC News Click here for the article . Summary A network of community kitchens that has kept millions of Sudanese alive during the civil war is close to collapse, according to Islamic Relief. The locally run kitchens, staffed by volunteers, operate in conflict areas beyond the reach of international aid agencies but now face closure because of exhaustion, shortages, and dwindling funds after U.S. aid cuts earlier this year. Many depend on donations from the Sudanese diaspora, but volunteers report uncertainty about whether they can cook each day. In besieged cities like el-Fasher and Kadugli, famine conditions have been confirmed, with some kitchens reduced to serving animal fodder before the RSF took control. The report warns that the volunteer networks, hailed as a model for locally led humanitarian action, are now running out of money, fuel, and safe access, leaving millions without food. Quotes ...

Sudan Is in Free Fall Eric A. Friedman, Suad Abdel Aziz, and John Prendergast — The New York Times — November 6, 2025 Click here for the article. Summary The authors warn that Sudan has entered the most catastrophic phase of its civil war, with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) carrying out mass killings, sexual assaults, and other atrocities in El Fasher after seizing the city from the Sudanese Armed Forces. They describe evidence of genocide supported by satellite data, eyewitness accounts, and documentation by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab. The essay accuses the United Arab Emirates of being the RSF’s primary backer, supplying arms and fuel through regional networks, while the Trump administration and major corporations with Emirati partnerships—such as the NBA and Disney—have failed to act. The writers call on the United States to halt arms sales, tighten sanctions, and pressure the UAE to end support for the militia, arguing that silence by global powers and institutions is ...

  He told the world what was happening in El Fasher. Then they sought him out. How Sudan lost ‘a true hero of the war’ The Guardian Click here for the article:   Summary The piece profiles Mohamed Khamis Douda, an activist and spokesperson for the Zamzam displacement camp in Darfur, who documented life under siege in El Fasher and exposed atrocities by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).  Despite repeated threats and drone surveillance, Douda stayed behind, organised community food distribution and burials, and shared harrowing first-hand accounts of starvation and violence. When the RSF finally overran the city on 26 October 2025, Douda was killed, symbolising the targeted elimination of civil society voices in the war. The article warns that his loss is not isolated but part of a pattern of systematic repression of Sudan’s revolutionary generation.  Quotes “We live in hope that this nightmare will one day end.” — Mohamed Khamis Douda describing daily...

Kristof correctly points to the failure of the US and other major powers to pressure the UAE which is the principal funder of the RSF. Money talks!! Tom The World Has Again Failed to Prevent Atrocities in Darfur Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times Click here for the article Summary Nicholas Kristof argues that mass atrocities are unfolding in El Fasher, Darfur, amid global indifference and failed U.S. diplomacy.

‘War is a business’: the Colombian mercenaries training Sudan’s child fighters to ‘go and get killed’ Harriet Barber in Medellín and Santiago Rodríguez Álvarez in Bogotá The Guardian 8 October 2025 Click here for the article Summary The Guardian reports that hundreds of former Colombian soldiers have joined Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), both fighting in Darfur and training Sudanese child recruits. One mercenary described teaching “thousands of recruits, mostly children,” to handle weapons before sending them into combat.

Dear Friends and Friends who are also Relatives, I am writing again about the war in Sudan, which grinds on, largely off-camera, with its attendant, horrific human suffering. I attach a recent column by Nicholas Kristof on the carnage. His is a strong but almost singular voice calling attention to the Sudanese catastrophe. He refers to the heroic, grass roots efforts of the mostly young Sudanese, often women, who are running the Emergency Response Rooms that offer local help to the suffering: food, medical care, spaces where young children can be children. These are the people for whom I asked your support in my last message, through the Mutual Aid Sudan organization. I attach also that message. Their work has not gone completely unnoticed. They have just won the Rafto prize for their work, awarded by a Norwegian human rights organization. Previous laureates of this prize included Aung San Suu Kyi, Jose Ramos-Horta, Kim Dae-Jung and Shirin Ebadi, who went on to win the Nobel Peace Pri...

By Jan Egeland Today, we - a broad alliance of civil society actors, non-governmental organisations, political foundations, and think tanks - gather in Berlin, for the conference: Today, we - a broad alliance of civil society actors, non-governmental organisations, political foundations, and think tanks - gather in Berlin, for the conference: Sudan: Thinking Peace and Humanitarian Protection from a Civilian Perspective.

On September 12, 2025, the four members of 'the Quad' - United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt—each holding varying degrees of influence over both Sudan’s regular armed forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—issued a joint roadmap aimed at ending the brutal war that has raged since April 2023.  The statement came out of meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly between the foreign ministers of the four countries.   The joint statement backed the unity of Sudan, but it was unclear whether the warring parties were willing to engage.  The army currently controls Sudan's east, north and center, while the RSF holds most of the Darfur region, where it has declared a parallel government fueling fears of a de-facto partition. The Quad plan calls for: a three-month humanitarian truce , during which aid access must be opened, civilians protected, and indiscriminate attacks halt; follow-up with a permanent ceasefire ;...

Let me introduce Nazanin, and share what she has kindly written for another purpose - Humanitarian Day - and to be shared by Yara, an Iranian Leadership Organization here in Toronto. I believe it will be interesting & appreciated by our XUnicefers, some who have served in Sudan. Wishing Nazanin & her family success, good health & peace of mind. Tashakor Nazanin jan, Niloufar

Captain of the Sudanese battalion Deployed in Mexico, 1867 For those interested in Sudan, Mexico, or imperial adventurism Tom Very unusual info that most would not know. It is a sad state of affairs when the tiny UAE with its megalomaniac Emir MBZ start meddling in things that are none of their business.

  Click here for the article  (The Atlantic). See also video interview with Anne Applebaum on her Sudan visits See also Tony Lake's appeal  for contributions on behalf of Mutual Aid Sudan and the Emergency Response Rooms This Is What the End of the Liberal World Order Looks Like By Anne Applebaum — The Atlantic, August 6, 2025 Summary Anne Applebaum offers a grim portrait of Sudan’s collapse as a test case for the disappearance of the liberal world order. Traveling through Khartoum, Omdurman, Port Sudan, and West Darfur, she documents the human toll of the civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF)—a conflict marked by mass displacement, famine, and atrocities including rape, looting, and starvation as a weapon of war.

Dear Friends and Family, I am writing (to many of you, again) in support of the brave, mostly young civilians maintaining the local Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan – the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. A Gaza - which is horrible enough in itself – writ still larger. And largely off – camera. For those of you who contributed earlier, heartfelt thanks and a hope you can do so again. For those of you who have not – please do so. For the human catastrophe there grows ever deeper.