Sudan largest humanitarian crisis ever recorded: IRC report

Woman daily worker preparing hygiene kits at the warehouse of Atlas Logistique, the logistics division of the non-governmental organization Handicap International, where supplies for 24 NGOs working in refugee camps are stored and kitted, in Adre in the Wadai region of Chad on 31 August 2024. Following the outbreak of civil war in Sudan, 640,000 refugees found refuge in Chad, prompting humanitarian actors to mobilise in response to this humanitarian migratory crisis. (Photo by Martin Bertrand / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP)

(AFP) - Sudan has become the "biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded" after 20 months of devastating war between rival generals, the International Rescue Committee said in a report released Wednesday.

"The country accounts for 10 percent of all people in humanitarian need, despite being home to less than 1 percent of global population," the New York-based organisation said in their 2025 Emergency Watchlist.

Since April 2023, a war between the Sudanese regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 12 million.

Nearly nine million of those are displaced within Sudan, most in areas with decimated infrastructure and facing the threat of mass starvation.

Across the country, nearly 26 million people -- around half the population -- are facing acute hunger, according to the United Nations.

Famine has already been declared in the Zamzam displacement camp in the western Darfur region, and the United Nations has said Sudan is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in recent memory.

IRC's report highlights the 20 countries at greatest risk of humanitarian deterioration, with Sudan ranking highest on the list for the second year in a row.

They said a total of 30.4 million people were in humanitarian need across the northeast African country, making it "the largest humanitarian crisis since records began", the IRC said.

There is no end to the war in sight, with both parties intensifying strikes on residential areas in recent weeks.

The IRC warned of total "humanitarian collapse", as the health crisis was set to worsen and both sides continued to "choke humanitarian access".

Around 305 million people worldwide are in need of humanitarian support, according to IRC, with 82 percent of them in watchlist areas such as the occupied Palestinian territories, Myanmar, Syria, South Sudan and Lebanon.

"It is clear that 'the world is on fire' is a daily reality for hundreds of millions of people," IRC chief David Miliband said.

"The world is being cleaved into two camps: between those born in unstable conflict states, and those with a chance to make it in stable states."

© Agence France-Presse