Three years of war in Sudan: what’s happening and how you can help

Over 1,000 days of conflict has left Sudan at breaking point. It has now become the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

“News reports last year highlighted the horrors of this conflict, with bloodshed so extensive it could be viewed from space via satellite. We cannot be complicit,” explains Christine Allen, CAFOD Director.

And you refused to be. More than 44,000 of you stood up to say no to war. You signed a petition urging the UK government to take urgent action and call for a ceasefire. We delivered your message to the Prime Minister in Downing Street, because a better world needs all of us.

This is your emergency update, and how you are answering Christ’s call to love your neighbour.

Sudan’s crisis is not just about numbers, it is a crisis of human dignity. Our brothers and sisters feel abandoned. Now is the time for us, as a Catholic community, to regroup and show through our regular giving that love of neighbour is stronger than violence, stronger than despair and stronger than war.

KAYODE AKINTOLA, CAFOD'S HEAD OF REGION FOR AFRICA

What you can do to share hope

Donate to help families in Sudan

The crisis in Sudan has plunged the country into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

Learn more about the Sudan crisis

Our webinar shares the extreme hardships families face and how your donations help deliver life-saving aid.

Pray for peace in Sudan

We ask the Lord to open the paths of peace as we pray for the people of Sudan who are facing conflict and hunger.

Parish fundraising

Hold a collection or fundraiser in your parish to get urgent support to families affected by the crisis in Sudan.

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Keep eyes on Sudan — With Christine Allen, CAFOD Director, centre, leading charities, civil society and Sudanese diaspora sound the alarm for Sudan

Over 1,000 days of conflict has left Sudan at breaking point. It has now become the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

This is your emergency update, and how you are answering Christ’s call to love your neighbour.

Why is there a crisis in Sudan?

Sudan has been affected by conflict since April 2023. The fighting is mainly between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

But the war is not an isolated crisis. The violence is being actively fuelled by a steady influx of foreign weapons and funding, turning what began as a domestic power struggle into a high-stakes proxy war.

What is happening in Sudan?

An estimated 9 to 9.3 million people – more than the entire population of London – have been forced to flee their homes within Sudan. Meanwhile, neighbouring countries such as Egypt and South Sudan are now hosting around 4.3 million refugees.

Kayode, CAFOD’s Head of Africa, describes the harrowing journeys many are forced to make to reach safety:

“Mothers carry children on their backs, young women and men search desperately for water where wells have long run dry. Many children and women have lost their lives during these weeks of walking without food and water. Those who reach displacement camps often arrive malnourished, dehydrated and carrying horrific stories of rape and abuse at the hands of armed men.”

After three years of conflict, the impact of our sisters and brother's lives is devastating. More than 150,000 people have lost their lives and millions more continue to suffer.

But your support is making a difference. Your donations are helping families survive, standing alongside our local experts in Sudan who are working tirelessly to provide shelter, life-saving food, safe drinking water, urgent medical care and more.

“Your donations are an act of steady love for our neighbours, a way of saying: we will not abandon you, we will stand with you until peace is restored. It is like the Good Samaritan who stopped, cared for the wounded man, paid for his treatment, and promised to give more if needed. That is the kind of faithful solidarity Sudan needs today,” Kayode says.

How you are helping the people of Sudan

On 14 April we delivered your message to Downing Street, pushing for the UK government to take urgent action and call for a ceasefire.

Christine Allen explains: “As Chair for the war-torn country at the UN Security Council, Britain is in a unique position to advocate on Sudan’s behalf. Given our government has this privilege, it's atrocious that British military equipment has been found in Sudanese battlefields.”

Right now, we are at a cusp of making a difference in Sudan. We are not wasting this opportunity but instead demanding more support for civilians in Sudan.

In Sudan, you are helping local experts work tirelessly to deliver life-saving food, water, shelter, emergency medical care and more. This includes a medical centre for children dangerously ill from acute malnutrition – a condition triggered by severe lack of food that can lead to disease and death.

You stand by your neighbours in Sudan sharing hope, life-saving aid and calling on the UK government to take urgent action. Thank you for believing in a better world.

Sudan’s crisis is not just about numbers, it is a crisis of human dignity. Our brothers and sisters feel abandoned. Now is the time for us, as a Catholic community, to regroup and show through our regular giving that love of neighbour is stronger than violence, stronger than despair and stronger than war.

KAYODE AKINTOLA, CAFOD'S HEAD OF REGION FOR AFRICA

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Three years of war in Sudan: what’s happening and how you can help