The United Nations has issued a renewed urgent warning regarding the rapidly escalating violence across Sudan, characterizing the nation’s humanitarian situation as critically deteriorating with no immediate resolution in sight. This alarming assessment comes as the Quintet group—a coalition comprising the African Union, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, the League of Arab States, the European Union, and the UN itself—expressed profound concern over the relentless intensification of hostilities. The group is now demanding an immediate cessation of all military operations.
The core of the conflict stems from a protracted power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Although these rival factions jointly orchestrated the overthrow of the government in 2021, their subsequent failure to establish a viable governing partnership has plunged the nation into chaos, creating what international officials confirm is the globe’s most severe displacement crisis.
During a recent media briefing, UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric emphasized the critical necessity for a coordinated global response to ‘de-escalate the conflict and halt the flow of weapons and fighters that are perpetuating the violence.’ These statements align with renewed international appeals for a humanitarian truce consistent with established international law and Security Council Resolution 2736.
These urgent calls emerge against a backdrop of horrific deteriorating conditions. Dujarric described a severe surge in attacks targeting civilian infrastructure and critical sites. He relayed reports from humanitarian colleagues detailing a devastating drone strike at dawn on a mosque in Al-Rahad, located in North Kordofan State. This attack reportedly resulted in the deaths of two children and left 13 others injured, all of whom were students at the mosque’s school, according to information provided by the Sudan Doctors Network.
In a similarly tragic incident, a separate drone strike hit a primary school in Dilling, South Kordofan, on late Tuesday night, causing additional civilian injuries. Furthermore, a warehouse operated by the World Food Programme in Kadugli was also struck. A pattern of additional attacks has been documented across the regions of South Kordofan, North Kordofan, and West Kordofan—strategic areas proximate to vital supply routes connecting El Obeid to Dilling and Kadugli. These assaults have raised grave concerns about further disruptions to humanitarian aid operations that are already on the brink of collapse.