In 2019, after the non-violent fall of Omar al-Bashir’s regime, Sudan seemed to be on a path toward democratic transition. However, this transition remained incomplete. In October 2021, the arrest of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and the formation of a military-led government under General Al Burhan sparked tensions with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Hemedti. These tensions escalated on April 15, 2023, when heavy bombings hit the capital Khartoum, marking the beginning of the civil war.
Sudanese civilians have been severely affected by this armed conflict. Out of approximately 50 million inhabitants in Sudan, 10 million are internally displaced, and 3 million have fled to neighbouring countries, mainly Egypt, Chad, and South Sudan. Nearly two-thirds of the Sudanese population, including 16 million children, need humanitarian assistance. Food insecurity is particularly acute, famine conditions have beenconfirmed in several areas of the country, and thousands of people are at risk of starvation. Child mortality is extremely high in some displaced persons camps. As a result of the war, an entire generation is growing up with no access to education and healthcare. Fighting between the regular army and the RSF has made it very difficult for the international community to deliver humanitarian aid.
The Community of Sant’Egidio, bound to the Sudanese people by years of friendship, has been supporting internally displaced persons since the beginning of the crisis, distributing food in Dongola State, sending humanitarian aid to refugee camps in Chad and South Sudan. It has also been directly involved in the evacuation of the Salesian nuns trapped for over a year on the front line in Khartoum. The Community also remains committed to ending the conflict, and has relaunched negotiations between the parties and requested to humanitarian aid for the population, and the reception of vulnerable families fleeing the war through humanitarian corridors.
