UN Relief Chief: Three years on, Sudan remains a test the world is failing

Halima, 30 who fled fighting in the nearby city of El Fasher, holds her six-month-old daughter Samira, who has Down syndrome and was recently treated for malnutrition in Tawila, where she found refuge. Photo: OCHA/Giles Clarke

Halima, who fled fighting in the nearby city of El Fasher, holds her six-month-old daughter Samira, who has Down syndrome and was recently treated for malnutrition in Tawila, where she found refuge. Photo: OCHA/Giles Clarke

Statement by Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Tomorrow marks three years of war in Sudan. Three years in which a country of immense promise has been torn apart.

Nearly 34 million people – or almost two out of every three people – need humanitarian support: the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

Hunger is tightening its grip as the lean season closes in. Hundreds of thousands of children are acutely malnourished, with millions being deprived of an education.

Women and girls are facing systemic and brutal sexual violence.

In the first three months of this year, nearly 700 civilians were reportedly killed in drone strikes.

Millions have been driven from their homes across Sudan and beyond its borders, with entire communities emptied and families uprooted time and again. The risk of wider regional instability is high.

Last year, humanitarians reached 17 million people with vital support. I pay tribute to their courage. This year, we aim to support 20 million. But the response is critically underfunded.

We need action now – to stop the violence, protect civilians, ensure access to communities in greatest danger, and fund the response.

This grim and chastening anniversary marks another year when the world has failed to meet the test of Sudan.

Berlin, 14 April 2026

Media contacts:

In New York: Eri Kaneko, kaneko@un.org, +1 917 208 8910

In Geneva: Jens Laerke, laerke@un.org, +41 79 472 9750

OCHA press releases are available at www.unocha.org or www.reliefweb.int

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