Policy Statement on Sudan | Dire Crisis in Sudan: A Global Call to Action

By Daniel P. Sullivan | May 22, 2025

Daniel P. Sullivan
Director for Africa, Asia, and the Middle East
Refugees International
House Committee on Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee Hearing
A Dire Crisis in Sudan: A Global Call to Action
May 22, 2025

On behalf of Refugees International, I am submitting this written statement for the record in regards to the dire crisis in Sudan. Recent attacks on civilians by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur, coupled with RSF attacks on the main humanitarian hub in Port Sudan, extrajudicial killings and other abuses by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and ongoing blocking of aid by the RSF, SAF, and allied militias has led to a new and devastating phase in the Sudan conflict. Sudan is already the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis. Urgent action is needed to stop the atrocities and to reverse and mitigate the effects of growing famine.

Refugees International is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that advocates for lifesaving assistance, human rights, and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises. We conduct fact-finding research and report on the circumstances of displaced populations globally. We do not accept any government or United Nations funding to ensure that our advocacy is impartial and independent.

Since the conflict in Sudan began in April 2023, Refugees International has carried out several research trips to Chad, Egypt, South Sudan, and to the Nuba Mountains inside Sudan, including meetings with displaced individuals, local and international humanitarian actors, experts, and relevant UN and government officials. This statement is informed by those trips as well as extensive consultations with representatives of Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) and Sudanese diaspora.

Recent attacks on civilians and mass displacement in Darfur have led to the highest levels of displacement since the Darfur genocide two decades ago. The war in Sudan has entered a new and devastating phase. More than two years into the conflict, we are witnessing a dramatic escalation in humanitarian need. This is now the world’s largest and fastest-growing crisis of displacement and hunger. Some 13 million people have been forced from their homes—4 million of them across borders. More than half of Sudan’s population urgently needs assistance just to survive. The most recent comprehensive food insecurity assessments—conducted months ago—identified five areas at risk of famine. The World Food Program (WFP) has since confirmed famine in five more areas and warned that it may soon spread to 17 more, potentially affecting millions of people. Since the conflict began, tens of thousands of lives have been lost, with the true toll likely far higher.

The SAF has retaken parts of Khartoum and other key areas. Meanwhile, the RSF has intensified attacks on SAF-controlled enclaves in Darfur and carried out drone strikes on the main humanitarian hub in Port Sudan and other areas of the country. Reports from the ground indicate hundreds of thousands of people have been newly displaced in recent weeks. Many have already experienced multiple rounds of displacement. Tens of thousands have fled to Tawila in North Darfur, while thousands more are fleeing daily to neighboring Chad—only to encounter overwhelmed camps, desperate conditions, and declining aid levels.

The violence we are witnessing—deliberate attacks on civilians, the shelling of displacement camps, ethnic cleansing, and widespread sexual violence—is tearing Sudan apart. In El Fasher, Abu Shouk, and Zamzam, the RSF is carrying out coordinated assaults on civilians. Local Sudanese responders at the Tine border crossing into Chad report that at least 30,000 people have arrived in recent days in extremely dire conditions. Children are arriving at the Chad border with gunshot wounds. Pregnant women in need of emergency surgery are turned away for lack of care. And a growing number of children have crossed that border without their parents.

Even before this recent surge in violence, humanitarian operations in Darfur and eastern Chad were severely underfunded. Today, with hundreds of thousands newly displaced, aid organizations are struggling to meet even the most basic needs for food, medicine, and shelter. Alarming reports from the ground describe people dying of thirst or being summarily executed while fleeing. Medicins Sans Frontier (MSF), one of the few humanitarian groups in Tawila, reports treating hundreds of people for bullet and explosion wounds, including children as young as seven months old. They also report skyrocketing malnutrition, a measles outbreak, and warn that, “People’s needs remain immense and far exceed our capacity to respond.”

A representative of the ERRs working on the Chad-Sudan border told an emergency briefing hosted by Refugees International that, “The services provided are beyond the capacity of the ERRs. We therefore appeal to local and international civil society organizations to provide assistance.”

U.S. aid freezes have undermined the humanitarian response and greatly exacerbated the suffering. The humanitarian collapse we are seeing has been sharply exacerbated by the U.S. government’s recent decision to slash funding for aid operations. These cuts have left relief agencies without the resources needed to respond. Programs have been suspended or drastically scaled back across eastern Chad and inside Sudan. In some areas, lifesaving assistance has ground to a halt entirely—leaving displaced families to survive on their own.

The United States, through USAID and the State Department, has contributed over $2.3 billion to humanitarian efforts for the Sudan crisis, supporting nearly half of the responding organizations and reaching more than 4 million people with lifesaving food and medical assistance. However, the recent freeze on foreign aid has severely disrupted those operations on the ground:

As Refugees International has reported previously, the most effective way to deliver aid in Sudan is through local Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) and other mutual aid groups on the front lines of the crisis. Yet, USAID funding for these critical ERR networks has been suspended.
The ERRs have been running 1,400 community kitchens, many the primary food source for communities across Sudan, but funding cuts have forced more than 70 percent of them to shut down, including in areas facing famine-like conditions. This has affected food access for more than 2.8 million people.
International organizations like Alight have been forced to shut down lifesaving food assistance programs for malnourished children, close 13 healthcare clinics and a mobile unit that served over 1,200 patients daily, halt operations at 33 primary healthcare clinics, and cease water deliveries to three refugee camps. At least 335 health facilities have been affected by stop work orders with many forced to close or halt lifesaving treatments, leading to preventable deaths.
An ERR representative working on the Darfur-Chad border recently told Refugees International that the cessation of funding has had “a very significant impact on the displaced, especially in protection, supply, and evacuation activities.”
As of the latest comprehensive food insecurity assessment in December 2024, famine had been confirmed across five areas of Sudan. WFP has since confirmed famine in five more areas and warned that it may soon spread to 17 more, potentially affecting millions of people. The shut down of the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), the primary global food insecurity monitoring system, is further crippling the ability to monitor and respond effectively to the famine.
The shuttering of hundreds of community kitchens and health services due to aid cuts is expected to lead to large numbers of preventable deaths.

The RSF and SAF continue to use food as a weapon of war, hindering or outright blocking delivery of aid. Humanitarian organizations in Sudan continue to report barriers to accessing people in need in both RSF and SAF controlled areas. UN OCHA’s latest Humanitarian Access Snapshot reports deteriorating access due to conflict, threats to aid workers, and “growing bureaucratic impediments…including protracted delays in issuing visas and travel permits.” Recent drone strikes by the RSF in Port Sudan, the main hub for getting aid into the country, have further disrupted aid delivery.

Local mutual aid groups like the ERRs report harassment and killings of their volunteers by both SAF and RSF authorities. It is vital that the United States and other countries of influence make clear to the RSF and SAF that humanitarian workers, including local Sudanese, are protected under international law and that aid access must be granted to effectively prevent growing famine.

The United States has recognized what is happening on Darfur as genocide and must pressure those enabling the genocide to stop. In December 2023, the United States determined that the SAF and RSF had committed war crimes and that the RSF and allied militias had committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing. In January 2025, this atrocity determination was updated to state that the RSF and its allies are responsible for genocide. In his confirmation hearing only a few months ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to the situation in Darfur as a “real genocide,” echoing the declaration of the Biden administration.

Foreign countries, inspired by power and resources, are exploiting the conflict and arming the two sides, prolonging and increasing the lethality of the conflict. Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have all been implicated in supporting the RSF and/or SAF at different times. Among these, the UAE’s support has been the most egregious. Multiple independent investigations by journalists and human rights groups have found evidence that the UAE is providing weapons to the RSF and the UN Fact-Finding Mission has found these charges credible. As Refugees International has highlighted, the UAE has done this reportedly through the guise of providing humanitarian assistance via the Emirates Red Cross, a potential war crime. In January 2025, Members of Congress confirmed that the UAE is providing weapons to the RSF and called for the United States to cease any future offensive arms transfer to the UAE until it complies with promises to the United States to cease transferring weapons to the RSF. As noted by Secretary Rubio, the UAE has been “openly supporting an entity that is carrying out genocide.”

Yet, in mid-May 2025, President Trump visited the Middle East, including the UAE, and the U.S. State Department informed Congress of its intention to sell some $1.6 billion worth of arms to the UAE. Members of Congress in both the House and Senate have introduced Joint Resolutions of Disapproval seeking to block the sale of arms to the UAE and citing concerns about the UAE’s role in arming the RSF.

Refugees International and partners have been shining a light on the UAE’s role in Sudan through the Speak Out on Sudan Campaign. This has included outreach to popular entities partnering or traveling to the UAE, including the NBA and comedian Trevor Noah. Musician Macklemore notably canceled a show in the UAE following outcry from Sudanese activists about the UAE’s role in the genocide in Sudan.

The U.S. government should prioritize Sudan in its bilateral diplomacy with the UAE and other external actors and urge them to stop enabling atrocities and to use their leverage toward promoting peace.

The Sudan crisis is a regional crisis with nearly 4 million people having fled to surrounding countries. The millions of people who have fled violence in Sudan, and the countries now hosting them, face a variety of challenges. In Chad, some 800,000 people have arrived from Sudan over the past two years, joining some 300,000 already displaced. When Refugees International visited eastern Chad in late 2023, the situation was already dire and underfunded. The arrival of tens of thousands more have greatly exacerbated the situation.

In Egypt, an estimated 1.5 million Sudanese have sought refuge. When Refugees International visited in late 2024, Sudanese refugees shared fears of ongoing detentions and forced deportations back to Sudan, despite the ongoing war and risks to their lives. Local groups and legal experts warned about the dangers of the new asylum law being used to further limit services for Sudanese refugees and lead to more detentions and deportations.

In South Sudan, the return of more than 750,000 South Sudanese who had previously fled to Sudan for refuge, as well as 350,000 Sudanese refugees has strained an already tense situation in the country. When Refugees International visited in 2023, the response was already overwhelmed amid growing domestic tensions that now threaten a return to widespread war.

In addition, tens of thousands more people have fled Sudan for the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Libya, and Uganda, with each population and host country facing their own challenges. International assistance is greatly needed to support these host countries. And each host country must be urged to do all they can to assist and not to discriminate against or push back those seeking safety from the ongoing violence in Sudan.

Urgent action is needed on Sudan. We are dangerously close to losing the window to act. The rainy season is nearly upon us. Roads into Darfur will soon be washed out. The humanitarian pipeline—already stretched to the breaking point—will collapse entirely unless the United States acts now to surge aid and help preposition critical supplies.

Failure to rapidly scale up humanitarian assistance will result in hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths. With the rainy season fast approaching and existing aid pipelines already stretched thin and nearing collapse, there is an urgent need to preposition lifesaving supplies before access routes into Darfur are cut off.

If the RSF and their allies are not stopped from continuing their attacks in Darfur, Port Sudan, and other parts of the country—and if the SAF is not prevented from engaging in retaliatory violence and obstructing aid—this crisis will only worsen.

We urge immediate action to surge humanitarian assistance and to ensure that the U.S. government presses the UAE to halt its support for the RSF and to use its influence to prevent an even greater humanitarian catastrophe.

We urge Members of Congress to push for:

An immediate surge in humanitarian assistance to areas of greatest need, including the Chad-Sudan border and into Darfur before supply routes are cut off;
Increased humanitarian and diplomatic support for ERRs and other local mutual aid groups who are at greatest risk and best placed to provide lifesaving aid;
Unhindered humanitarian access to those facing severe food insecurity, including famine. Press the RSF and SAF to allow access and coordinate access negotiations to ensure that groups working in areas controlled by one party are not barred from operating in those controlled by the other. This should include humanitarian corridors – across lines and across borders – allowing civilians to flee violence and safe delivery of lifesaving aid to the most vulnerable.
Mobilization of diplomatic pressure on countries with influence over the parties to the conflict in Sudan—including with the UAE in its supply of weapons to the RSF—to halt support and to secure unfettered humanitarian access;
Ensuring that Sudan is front and center in U.S. bilateral discussions with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the African Union, and other regional partners.
Global action through U.S. coordination towards protection of civilians, expanded and better enforced targeted sanctions, as well as enforcing the UN arms embargo on Darfur and expanding it to the whole of the country.
Support for accountability efforts including through funding and support of local human rights defenders, documentation and monitoring efforts (including those focused on addressing the epidemic of sexual and gender based violence), and the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission.
Passage of the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval blocking arms sales to the UAE until it ceases selling weapons to the genocidal RSF.
Appointment of a U.S.Special Envoy to Sudan. Congress should press the Trump administration to appoint an individual with knowledge of key influential external actors and the gravitas and backing of the White House necessary to prioritize addressing the humanitarian crisis in Sudan in bilateral and multilateral relations.
Re-establishment of a Sudan Caucus to ensure bipartisan attention, engagement, and coordination on the Sudan crisis.

We have the capacity to save lives. We have the tools to push for peace. But we must summon the political will and moral clarity to act—now—before history repeats itself, again, in Darfur, and reverberates throughout Sudan and the region.