The war in Sudan: how it began and why people are starving
One of the military groups has agreed to ceasefire
CONTENT WARNING: This story is deeply complicated. Understanding it requires more than what is provided in any single news article. It also contains information about war and death. Consider reading it with a trusted adult and looking for other credible sources to broaden your understanding of the conflict in Sudan. It’s common to have an emotional reaction to the news.
⭐️HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW⭐️
- A civil war has been raging in the African country of Sudan since April 2023.
- At least 40,000 people have been killed and millions are displaced or lack food.
- Almost half of the country is at risk of starvation.
- One military group has agreed to a ceasefire but the other has yet to respond.
- Read on to find out how the conflict began in the first place. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
After more than two years of civil war, many people in Sudan, one of Africa’s largest countries, don’t have enough food to eat.
That’s according to a report this week from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), an international organization that monitors hunger.
On Nov. 3, the IPC reported that two areas of Sudan are experiencing famine and 20 others are at high risk of famine.
The IPC uses specific criteria to measure famine, but is generally defined as when there is so little food in an area that lives are at risk.
The hunger crisis stems from a civil war — a conflict where different groups within a country fight one another — that has been raging in Sudan for more than two years.
Since the conflict began, more than 40,000 people have been killed (with some aid groups saying that number could be many times more), more than 4 million have left the country and another 9.5 million have been displaced within the country.
Although one of the warring military groups has agreed to a ceasefire, no agreement has been made yet. Let’s find out what led to the conflict in the first place.
What led to this conflict?
Sudan’s civil war stems from power struggles over how the country should be run, and who should run it.
For 30 years, the country was run as a dictatorship — a form of government where a single leader controls much of society, including voting — by president Omar al-Bashir.
In 2019, following protests from citizens demanding an end to Bashir’s 30-year rule, Sudan’s army forced him out of power.
After Bashir was gone, a transitional government was formed with civilian and military leaders. They planned to hold democratic elections, which would allow the people of Sudan to choose who would lead their country.
But that never happened.
In October 2021, two high-profile leaders ousted the civilians who had worked with the new government.
The two men were Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the head of the army called the Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of an unofficial military group called the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
But once in control, the two men disagreed about several key things, including a plan to integrate the RSF into the SAF, and who would lead that combined army.
The two groups started fighting, and in April 2023, the civil war began.
One of this century’s worst humanitarian crises, UN says
For more than two and a half years, the two groups have exchanged attacks, lost and retaken territory, and decimated cities all over Sudan as they struggle for power.
During that time, both sides have been accused of committing atrocities against civilians, such as mass killings and sexual assaults.
In January 2025, the International Criminal Court said there were grounds to believe both military groups may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
The conflict has made it difficult for many civilians to access food, sometimes because military forces purposely cut off food supplies to civilians in order to gain leverage within the war.
As of September, the IPC said more than 21 million people, nearly half of Sudan’s population, face acute food insecurity and 1.4 million children are severely malnourished.
It said about 375,000 in the country’s Darfur and Kordofan regions are experiencing famine.
Taken together, the UN has said what’s happening in Sudan is one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century.
What’s being done to help?
On Nov. 6, the RSF agreed to a proposal from the United States and Arab powers for a humanitarian ceasefire.
This type of ceasefire is a pause to fighting that allows aid to flow into an area in order to help people who have been injured, sick, or in desperate need of food.
The SAF has not yet responded to the ceasefire proposal, although influential SAF leaders have previously expressed their disapproval.
A Sudan military official told The Associated Press, a news agency that distributes news coverage to broadcasters such as CBC around the world, that the SAF will only agree to a truce when the RSF completely withdraws from civilian areas and gives up their weapons.
A U.S envoy said last week that a deal would begin with a three month truce to allow much-needed humanitarian aid to flood into Sudan before a nine month “political process.”
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With files from The Associated PressWith files from The Associated Press
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