Attachments
Situation Overview
The Sudan conflict that started in April 2023 deepened throughout 2024 without abating. Millions continued to flee their homes inside and across Sudan’s borders in search of safety from extreme levels of violence and deprivation leading to a total of 12 million people forcibly displaced by the conflict. By the beginning of 2025, over 3 million refugees and returnees had crossed into the Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan, and Uganda, while another 8.8 million people had been newly displaced inside Sudan. The conflict has resulted in extreme human rights violations against civilians including sexual violence and arbitrary killings. Unrestricted and uninterrupted access to deliver humanitarian assistance, especially in areas facing acute hunger remains a significant challenge due to ongoing insecurity and inaccessibility.
The grave famine situation in parts of Sudan became a primary displacement trigger on top of the violence. The impact of the conflict beyond Sudan’s borders, such as the disruption of existing trade routes and supply chains, inflation and the growing cost of the humanitarian response, created increased hardship for vulnerable host communities, aggravating existing economic and food insecurity challenges.
The region continued to experience high levels of food insecurity, with food ration cuts ranging from 30 per cent to 70 per cent of the standard recommended daily intake. High levels of acute malnutrition persisted in Sudan, Ethiopia, and South Sudan; a situation that has further deteriorated with the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
In 2024, El Niño-triggered heavy rains that affected over 2.8 million people across the region including Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda and impacting refugees and IDPs, displacing thousands of people within their countries. RRP partners provided life-saving assistance and protection to people displaced by flooding, addressing significant extreme weather-related challenges compounded by Sudan’s ongoing conflict.
The influx into countries of asylum has put pressure on national systems, in particular health. Major health risks were reported in 2024 – with outbreaks of cholera, measles, malaria, rubella, dengue and conjunctivitis in Sudan spreading to neighbouring countries. South Sudan and Uganda both reported cholera outbreaks in 2024 among new arrivals. South Sudan also reported outbreaks of measles and hepatitis.
Humanitarian programmes in these countries remained chronically underfunded in 2024 and required international support to sustain their generosity as host countries. The delivery of life-saving assistance and protection as more people continued to be displaced was prioritized, while more engagement of development actors was also encouraged to complement interventions and support host communities with the inclusion of refugees in expanded national services, to foster peaceful community relations, resilience and self-reliance, and for the sustainable reintegration of returnees.
Funding reported towards the 2024 Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) reached 31 per cent by the end of 2024.