Sudan's civil war has claimed at least 59,000 lives and displaced around 13 million people since fighting erupted in April 2023, with the conflict now entering its third year amid collapsing infrastructure and a deepening humanitarian crisis that's pushed more than 30 million people into dependence on aid.
Thousands of displaced families in El-Obeid, a strategic city in Sudan's interior, face deteriorating conditions as drone strikes damage fuel supplies, power infrastructure and transport routes. The attacks have crippled hospitals and left civilians without essential services. Amna, whose husband was killed in the fighting, fled to El-Obeid while four months pregnant. "My husband was killed while I was four months pregnant, killed in this war," she said. "We have been suffering since the day we arrived. We don't have anything. I don't have a bed, I don't have a pan, I don't have a bucket. I don't have any food."
Hospital Infrastructure Collapses
At El-Obeid Teaching Hospital, doctors struggle with frequent power cuts as diesel shortages threaten emergency care, maternity services and incubators for premature babies. Dr. Muzammil Ahmed al-Safi, the hospital's Director General, described the precarious situation. "Unfortunately, only 10 minutes the generator was off because the fuel is depleted... But as you know, now the emergency room is functioning as normal," he said. The brief outages underscore how fragile life-saving services have become in a city caught between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The war has pushed large parts of Sudan into famine. The United Nations says more than 30 million people now require humanitarian assistance as fighting intensifies around El-Obeid and other strategic locations.
RSF Claims Blue Nile Victory
Sudan's Rapid Support Forces claim they've taken full control of Geissan, a town in the Blue Nile region near the Ethiopian border. The Sudanese army disputes that assertion, saying fighting continues and that it retains control of a key military base in the area.
The fighting has displaced around 2,500 people, according to the International Organization for Migration, with some civilians crossing into Ethiopia. The offensive reportedly came during harvest season, with the RSF accused of looting crops and the central market. Geissan's strategic location gives the RSF greater influence along supply routes and near the Roseires Dam, a critical piece of infrastructure.
Khartoum accuses Ethiopia of facilitating military support from the United Arab Emirates to the RSF. Addis Ababa denies those allegations. Analysts say the new offensive could be aimed at stretching the army as it makes gains elsewhere in Sudan, opening a second front that divides military resources and attention.
The conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF began in April 2023 over disputes about integrating the paramilitary force into the regular military structure. What started as a power struggle in Khartoum has metastasized into a nationwide war that's destroyed state institutions, collapsed the economy and created one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.
Why This Matters:
Sudan's collapse demonstrates how quickly state failure can create cascading humanitarian crises that overwhelm international aid capacity. With 13 million displaced and 30 million requiring assistance, the conflict has generated costs that far exceed any conceivable military or political gain. The fighting around strategic locations like El-Obeid and Geissan shows how paramilitary forces can exploit weak governance to seize territory and resources, creating facts on the ground that complicate any future settlement. The allegations of foreign military support from the UAE through Ethiopia, if true, illustrate how regional powers can fuel conflicts that destabilize entire regions. The looting of crops during harvest season and attacks on infrastructure like fuel depots and hospitals reveal a pattern of warfare that deliberately targets civilian survival, making post-conflict reconstruction exponentially more difficult and expensive. The international community's limited response to a crisis affecting 30 million people raises questions about the effectiveness of multilateral humanitarian mechanisms when conflicts occur in strategically marginal regions.