Sudan enters fourth year

Sudan’s war hit its fourth year on April 15 with fighting still active, 14 million people displaced, and no nationwide ceasefire in place. (news.un.org) The conflict began on April 15, 2023, when a power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces erupted into open war in Khartoum. United Nations officials said 9 million people are displaced inside Sudan and 4.4 million have fled to neighboring countries including Chad, South Sudan and Egypt. (unhcr.org) United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher said this week that Sudan is now the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis. United Nations agencies said nearly 34 million people, almost two in three Sudanese, need humanitarian support this year. (news.un.org) The war has also become a hunger crisis. United Nations and food-security monitors have reported famine in El Fasher in North Darfur and Kadugli in South Kordofan, with at least 20 other areas at risk if fighting and aid blockages continue. (news.un.org) The front lines have shifted, but the war has not ended. Sudan’s army said it retook Khartoum in March 2025, and the army-aligned government announced a return to the capital in January 2026, while fighting continued in Darfur, the Kordofans and Blue Nile state. (aljazeera.com, unhcr.org) United Nations officials said the weapons are changing too. They reported increased air bombardments and drone attacks, and Tom Fletcher said nearly 700 civilians had been reported killed in drone strikes in the first months of 2026. (unhcr.org, courthousenews.com) Former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok said a new peace plan is now being pushed after repeated ceasefires collapsed over the past three years. He has called for talks involving the United Nations, the African Union, the Sudanese army, the Rapid Support Forces and civilian groups to secure a ceasefire and humanitarian access. (dabangasudan.org, english.aawsat.com) That proposal faces the same obstacle that has blocked earlier diplomacy: neither side has shown a willingness to stop fighting nationwide or accept a durable political settlement. As the fourth year begins, United Nations officials are still calling Sudan an “abandoned crisis” and warning that civilians are paying the price. (news.un.org)