Regional Overview
Referred to as the largest as well as the fastest growing displacement crisis globally, the conflict that began in mid-April 2023 in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), had by December 2024, forcibly displaced more than 12.3 million people—this is more than the entire population of Switzerland, New York City or London. More than 3 million people have fled to the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda including refugees, asylum-seekers and returnees, with 8.4 million newly internally displaced within Sudan. One in four Sudanese people are now forcibly displaced. One in sixteen refugees globally are from Sudan. These are staggering statistics.
This is a volatile conflict that has continued to evolve with constant associated displacement. Flashpoints in 2024 included Al Fasher in North Darfur State in May, where up to 143,000 people were forcibly displaced; Sennar in July that displaced more than 151,750 people from their homes, and an estimated 340,000 civilians displaced from parts of Aj Jazirah State following a wave of armed violence and attacks in the area in October. In early December, South Sudan saw a surge of people arriving in need of protection and assistance, with tens of thousands of people fleeing fresh violence in border areas of Sudan's White Nile, Sennar, and Blue Nile States. By the end of December, an estimated 100,000 individuals had arrived in Renk county. As the fighting continues, refugees are arriving further afield and two new countries Libya and Uganda, were added to the regional refugee response plan in July 2024.
The Sudan emergency is the worst protection crisis in recent times, with widespread and grave human rights violations including abuse and exploitation of children and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) being a particularly devastating and pervasive issue. Women, children, and vulnerable groups continue to bear the brunt of this violence, which is used as a weapon of war and terror, inflicting long-term physical, psychological, and social harm on survivors. In Sudan, reports indicate sexual violence, including rape, sexual slavery, forced marriage, and exploitation, continue to be used systematically by armed groups and factions involved in the conflict - not only aimed at individuals but also used to destabilize communities, break down the social fabric, and displace populations, further exacerbating the current situation.
In the first half of 2024, the blockade and escalating fighting in Al Fasher, North Darfur State delayed or prevented the delivery of commercial and humanitarian supplies to areas of critical need. By August, Sudan was facing the worst levels of food insecurity in its history with a staggering 26 million people in acute hunger. Famine conditions were confirmed in August and the situation was particularly critical for people trapped in conflict-affected areas, particularly Aj Jazirah, Darfur, Khartoum and Kordofan, compounding an already dire humanitarian situation caused by conflict, severe human rights violations and destruction. Sudan is now also the world’s largest hunger crisis. Nearly 5 million children and pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished. Concurrently, Sudan struggled with diseases and flooding exacerbating the suffering of the population.
The data collected in October by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) confirms that acute malnutrition rates remain above the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC Phase 5) threshold in Zamzam internally displaced persons (IDP) camp. What is equally worrying are reports that as of 10 October, MSF was forced to stop outpatient treatment for 5,000 children with acute malnutrition in Zamzam IDP camp as the delivery of food, medicines, and other essential supplies was blocked for months.
Humanitarian access has been a critical challenge and areas that were considered “safe” often change as the conflict spreads. Despite this, humanitarian partners were able to scale up the response across the country and reached 12.6 million people with some form of assistance. However, while conflict, a deteriorating protection environment, and lack of humanitarian assistance due to access constraints will be the primary triggers for displacement, the grave famine situation in Sudan is now considered an additional displacement trigger. With the territory of Sudan divided into areas controlled by SAF, RSF, and other non-state armed actors, humanitarian access continues to pose an operational and protection challenge.
The seven refugee-hosting countries in the Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan (RRP) have their own challenges, and the contexts differ vastly from one another. Across the board, however, reduced access to food, scarcity of natural resources, limited access to essential services and livelihood opportunities as well as inflation have all contributed to protection risks. Increasingly, refugee families in countries of asylum are resorting to harmful coping strategies to meet their basic needs. These include selling household assets, reducing the quantity and nutritional value of meals, children begging and others resorting to forced and child marriage, putting themselves in debt with traders, and withdrawing children from school to engage in child labour are reported to be on the rise. Incidents of denial of resources, intimate partner violence and sexual exploitation in the community remain common across countries impacted by the crises.
Many of these countries are among the most climate-vulnerable and least equipped for adaptation, facing severe impacts such as recurrent droughts in Ethiopia and Chad, and devastating floods in South Sudan, which exacerbate resource scarcity, could heighten tensions between refugees and the host community and lead to new and secondary displacement. Recurrent and worsening flooding makes roads impassable, limiting access to essential services.
In addition, disease outbreaks are rampant in refugee and returnee receiving areas, including cholera and measles. The presence of armed groups in some refugee-hosting areas also presents security challenges.
The Central African Republic has one of the highest poverty rates in the world at 68 per cent and faces its own significant development challenges, as well as conflict and displacement dynamics. More than 36,000 refugees and returnees are in Vakaga prefecture as of December 2024. Border areas in the Central African Republic also face significant insecurity and logistical challenges.
In Chad, more than 200,000 refugees are still in spontaneous settlements around Adre and other border areas, waiting to be transported to settlement sites where they can access better services. With over one million registered refugees, Chad ranks as the seventh largest refugee-hosting country in the world. Prior to the conflict, there were 400,000 refugees in Eastern Chad; as of December 2024, over 723,000 new refugees had arrived in Chad. This displacement presents complex humanitarian, development, and peace challenges that require humanitarian and development interventions, a priority being the creation of new refugee sites.
South Sudan is among the poorest countries in the world, hosting nearly 934,000 refugees and returnees as of December 2024. The conflict in Sudan has had a catastrophic impact, disrupting trade and leading to a rise in food and fuel prices. This price surge exacerbates protection risks and vulnerabilities for women and children, and further strains access to essential goods and services. It has also increased food insecurity, harmful coping mechanisms for children and women, and humanitarian needs among refugee and host communities. Climate change poses an additional threat to South Sudan, and flooding is a regular phenomenon. In 2024, a cholera outbreak in Sudan spread to South Sudan and was compounded by the effects of flooding, overcrowding and underfunding in reception and transit areas.
Despite falling in the lowest category of development, with South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Chad featuring in the list of 10 countries with the lowest human development indicators (HDI) in the world – all three have continued to generously keep their borders open and host refugees and returnees impacted by the conflict in Sudan.
In Ethiopia, nearly 68,000 refugees and returnees arrived in the Amhara and Benishangul-Gumuz regions as of December 2024. In line with pledges made at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum and its makatet (“to be included”) approach – the inclusion of refugees into existing national programmes and systems and human settlements – regional authorities in Benishangul-Gumuz and Amhara, the Government Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS), and RRP partners are developing integrated settlements – Ura and Aftit – in both regions for newly arrived refugees, where they will have access to documentation and national services alongside host communities. Localized insecurity in the Amhara region in 2024 resulted in the closure of two refugee settlements, relocation of refugees to a new site (Aftit) and restricted movement for humanitarian workers.
While Uganda managed concurrent health emergencies, including cholera among new arrivals and a country-wide Mpox outbreak in 2024, its generous refugee policy, underpinned by the Refugees Act (2006) and Regulations (2010), guarantees refugees essential rights, including freedom of movement, employment, and access to national services. Globally, it is the sixth largest refugee-hosting country. This progressive approach, coupled with the inclusion of refugees in Uganda's National Development Plan III and issuance of ICAO-standard travel documents, creates opportunities for refugees within Uganda and in third countries and for development investments. RRP partners and other stakeholders are responding to the needs of both refugees – close to 62,000 from Sudan as of December and host communities, including in and around Kiryandongo refugee settlement and as well as urban Kampala.
Libya and Egypt, also impacted by the Sudan crisis, are both classified as “middle income countries” by the World Bank. In Libya, approximately 39 per cent of the 210,000 new arrivals as of December 2024, were women and children. The increasing numbers of arrivals in Libya with many refugees living in informal settlements and makeshift shelters, which lack basic safety and hygiene standards remains a challenge. Accessing border areas despite some notable improvements, is a challenge. An estimated 803,000 people, including displaced Libyans, asylum-seekers, refugees, and migrants, are in need of humanitarian assistance. Many refugees who remain unregistered face severe risks, including exploitation and lack of basic rights.
Egypt has a long-standing tradition of welcoming and hosting refugees and asylum-seekers over the years. According to UNHCR data, Egypt received the second highest number of new asylum applications globally in the first half of 2024. By December 2024, according to government data, there were 1.2 million new arrivals in Egypt since the conflict in Sudan began. A key challenge, however, is the length of time taken for Sudanese to obtain valid government issued residency documents – an average of 800 days – impacting their ability to access protection services and basic assistance.
The 2025 RRP for the Sudan emergency covers a 12-month period, from January to December and builds on the response under the 2024 RRP. The Plan will serve 5 million refugees, returnees, third country nationals and host communities (up from 3.3 million refugees, returnees and third country nationals planned in 2024). More specifically, it includes the following population groups:
- some 800,000 Sudanese refugees who were present in the hosting countries prior to April 2023.
- host populations who live in close proximity with refugees in all seven countries, reflecting a comprehensive, integrated approach.
- an additional 1 million more Sudanese refugees projected to arrive in 2025 – bringing the total population planning figure to nearly 5 million people in need (including 880,000 host community).
- a small number of third country nationals arriving in Chad, Libya and South Sudan.
- refugee figures are cumulative, while third country national figures include only those projected to arrive in 2025. Refugee returnee figures for Ethiopia and the Central African Republic include the numbers for 2024 and those planned for in 2025.
To note:
- in South Sudan, all returnees remain under the 2025 South Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
- returning migrants in Ethiopia are under a separate IOM plan, and in Chad, returning migrants are under the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan.
The 2025 RRP continues the focus on resilience programming and engaging development actors in the response. The development of integrated settlements in Ethiopia, eastern Chad and in South Sudan, localization, including capacity and resilience building of partners, are key priorities in 2025.
A total of 111 RRP partners require USD 1.8 billion to assist these populations. However, as the situation remains fluid, the RRP may be revised as required and the inter-agency response adapted in line with developments in the context and needs.