April 2024
Country of Origin Information

Sudan Country Focus

Sudan - Country Focus
Security situation in selected areas and selected
profiles affected by the conflict

April 2024

Manuscript completed in April 2024
Neither the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) nor any person acting on behalf of the
EUAA is responsible for the use that might be made of the information contained within thispublication.
Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2024
PDF

ISBN 978-92-9410-069-6 doi: 10.2847/759057 BZ-02-24-444-EN-N© European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA), 2024
Cover photo: An aerial photo showing the Sunnah of flames in the market of the Al-Arabneighborhood in the city of Omdurman on June 2, 2023, Abd Almohimen Sayed, ©iStock,2023, url
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. For any use or reproductionof photos or other material that is not under the EUAA copyright, permission must be sought
directly from the copyright holders.

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Acknowledgements
This report was written by the COI Sector of the EUAA. The following departments andorganisations have reviewed the report, together with EUAA:▪
▪
▪

Belgium, Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons,
CEDOCA – Documentation and Research Centre
Denmark, Danish Immigration Service – DIS, Country of Origin Information
Eric Reeves, Ph.D., specialised on the politics and human rights situation in Sudan. Since
1999 he has conducted original research and reported on topics relevant for international
protection across the whole country, most notably on Darfur.

It must be noted that the review carried out by the mentioned departments, experts ororganisations contributes to the overall quality of the report but does not necessarily imply
their formal endorsement of the final report, which is the full responsibility of EUAA.

3

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUMContents
Acknowledgements........................................................................................................................ 3Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 4
Disclaimer ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Glossary and abbreviations ........................................................................................................... 7
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................12
Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 12
Defining the terms of reference ................................................................................. 12
Collecting information ................................................................................................... 12
Research challenges ......................................................................................................13
Quality control ..................................................................................................................13
Sources ..................................................................................................................................................13
Structure and use of the report .......................................................................................................14
Map on administrative regions ....................................................................................................15
1.

Country security and humanitarian situation .................................................................16
1.1. Country overview ...................................................................................................................... 16
1.1.1. Political situation and crisis background ...................................................... 16
1.1.2. Map on territorial control of Sudan as of 31 January 2024 ..................... 18
1.1.3. Security situation ................................................................................................. 19
1.1.4. Communication blackout and media coverage......................................... 29
1.1.5. Humanitarian situation .......................................................................................33
1.1.6. Map on route activity as of December-January 2024 ............................. 46
1.2. Security situation in selected regions .................................................................................. 47
1.2.1. Darfur...................................................................................................................... 47
1.2.2. Khartoum .............................................................................................................. 53
1.2.3. Al Jazirah ...............................................................................................................57
1.2.4. The Kordofans .................................................................................................... 59

2.

Selected profiles affected by the conflict ...................................................................... 65
2.1. Journalists and treatment of media personnel................................................................. 65
2.2. Humanitarian and health personnel .....................................................................................67
2.2.1. Aid workers.......................................................................................................... 68

4

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

2.2.2. Healthcare personnel ....................................................................................... 69
2.3. Political opponents ...................................................................................................................70
2.3.1. Arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances .................................72
2.3.2. Community leaders, lawyers, human rights activists ................................ 73
2.3.3. Resistance committees’ members ................................................................. 74
2.3.4. Political party members and other perceived opponents .......................76
2.4. Non-Arabs/Africans in Darfur ................................................................................................. 78
2.4.1. Background .......................................................................................................... 78
2.4.2. Targeting ............................................................................................................... 81
2.5. Women and girls ....................................................................................................................... 85
2.5.1. Sexual violence and conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan ............ 85
2.5.2. Conflict-related sexual violence as from April 2023 ................................ 86
2.5.3. Kidnapping, abduction, exploitation, slavery, disappearances, andother violations .............................................................................................................. 93
2.6. Child soldiers ............................................................................................................................. 94
Annex 1: Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 97
Oral sources, including anonymous sources .............................................................................97
Public sources.....................................................................................................................................97
Annex 2: Terms of Reference .................................................................................................... 133

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

Disclaimer
This report was written according to the EUAA COI Report Methodology (2023). The report isbased on carefully selected sources of information. All sources used are referenced.
The information contained in this report has been researched, evaluated and analysed withutmost care within a limited timeframe. However, this document does not claim to be
exhaustive. If a particular event, person or organisation is not mentioned in the report, thisdoes not mean that the event has not taken place or that the person or organisation does notexist. Any event taking place after the finalisation of this report is not included. Moreinformation on the reference period for this report can be found in the Introduction.
Furthermore, this report is not conclusive as to the determination or merit of any particularapplication for international protection. Terminology used should not be regarded asindicative of a particular legal position.
‘Refugee’, ‘risk’ and similar terminology are used as generic terminology and not in the legal
sense as applied in the EU Asylum Acquis, the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967
Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.
Neither EUAA nor any person acting on its behalf may be held responsible for the use which
may be made of the information contained in this report.
On 19 January 2022, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) became the European
Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA). All references to EASO, EASO products and bodies should
be understood as references to the EUAA.
The drafting of this report was finalised on 22 March 2024. The report covers the period 15
April 2023 – 31 January 2024. Any event taking place after the end date of the reference
period is not included in this report, unless specifically indicated in exceptional cases and only
to corroborate pre-existing trends. More information on the reference period for this report
can be found in the methodology section of the Introduction.

6

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Glossary and abbreviations

Term

Definition

Abid or abed, abeed

Pejorative racial slur

ACJPS

African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies

ACLED

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project

Al-Fa’aEthnically driven civilian recruitment campaigns

AOAVAction on Armed Violence

AWSD

Aid Workers Security Database

CAR

Central African Republic

CIR

Centre for Information Resilience (UK)

COI

Country of Origin Information

CPJ

Committee to Protect Journalists

CPoS

Communist Party of Sudan

CRP

Central Reserve Police

CRSV

Conflict Related Sexual Violence

CVAW

Combating Violence Against Women

DarfurHistorically refers to the entire Darfur region, which was divided
into three states in 1994 and then subsequently into five states in2011. Sometimes it is also known as Greater Darfur.

DUP

Democratic Unionist Party

7

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

TermDefinition

ERRs

Emergency Response Rooms

ETC

Emergency Telecommunication Cluster

EU+ countries

Member States of the European Union and associated countries

EUAA

European Union Agency for Asylum

FEWS NETThe Famine Early Warning Systems Network

FFC-CC

Forces for Freedom and Change – Central Council or Command

FFC-DM

Forces for Freedom and Change – Democratic Block

GBV

Gender Based Violence

GSLF

Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces

GSJEF

Gathering of the Sudanese Justice and Equality Forces

Hawakir

Territories

HDX

Humanitarian Database Exchange (UNOCHA)HRW

Human Rights Watch

IDP

Internal Displaced Person

INGO

International Non-Governmental Organisation

IOM

International Organisation for Migrations

IPC

Integrated Food Security Phase Classification

JEM

Justice and Equality Movement

JPA

Juba Peace Agreement

8

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Term

Definition

Kordofans, The

Referring to all Kordofan States or regions, also known as Greater
Kordofan

LNA

Libyan National Army (self-styled)

Madhhab

School of thought within Islamic jurisprudence

MiCTMedia in Cooperation and Transition

MSF

Médecins Sans Frontières

Mustanfareen

The mobilised, referred to armed popular resistance

NCP

National Congress Party

NNGO

National Non-Governmental Organisation

NRC

Norwegian Refugee Council

NUP

National Umma Party

OCII

Organisation to Combat Illicit Immigration (Libya)

OHCHR

Office High Commissioner for human Rights

Omda

Leader of a village

RSF

Reporters Sans Frontières, Reporters Without Borders

RSF

Rapid Support ForcesSA

Sudanese Alliance

SAF

Sudan Armed Forces

SCP

Sudan Congress Party

SEA

Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

9EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

TermDefinition

SGBV

Sexual Gender Based Violence

SIHA Network

Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa

SJN

Sudanese Journalists Network

SJS

Sudanese Journalism Syndicate

SLM-AW

Sudan Liberation Movement – Abdel Wahid al-Nur

SLM-MM

Sudan Liberation Movement – Minni Minnawi

SLM-Tambour

Sudan Liberation Movement – Mustafa Tambour

SLM-TC

Sudan Liberation Movement the-Transitional Council of Al-Hadi
Idris

SLM-Unity

Sudan Liberation Movement-Unity

SPLM-N-Agar

Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North-Malik Agar

SPLM-N-al-Hilu

Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North-al-Hilu

SPLM-N-DRM

Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North–Democratic
Revolutionary Movement

SSA

WHO Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care

TariqaSufi doctrine or path of spiritual learning

UAE

United Arab Emirates

UCAV

Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles

UNFPA

United Nations Population Fund

UNHCR

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

10SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Term

Definition

UNITAMS

United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the
Sudan

UNOCHA

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

WGSS

Women and Girls Safe Spaces

WHO

World Health Organisation

Zurug

Denoting darkness or Black, derogatory11EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

Introduction
The purpose of this report is to provide relevant contextual information in view of theassessment of applications for international protection, including refugee status andsubsidiary protection.
The report provides an overview of the situation in Sudan, in the period 15 April 2023 – 31
January 2024, focusing on security issues and selected profiles relevant for international
protection, that have been impacted by the conflict. Starting from the outbreak of thehostilities in April 2023, the report focuses first on the disruptive impact on the communicationand media situation in the country throughout the reporting period. After highlighting this
impact on all aspects addressed in the remainder of the report, notably regarding nonreporting and underreporting issues, the report proceeds to address the humanitarian and the
security situation in the country. In line with the terms of reference (ToR) and the main conflictareas as of January 2024, the report focuses on selected regions/states, namely Darfur, theKordofans (meaning the Kordofan states, also referred to as Greater Kordofan), Khartoum andAl Jazirah.
In the second part, the report focuses on a selection of the main profiles that have been
particularly affected. The targeting of these profiles has been widely reported, althoughintermittently and fragmentarily, by local and international sources alike. The report iscomplemented by the input of various international experts on the most unreported andunderreported aspects of the issues addressed.

Methodology
The present report was written according to the EUAA COI Report Methodology (2023) 1 andthe EUAA COI Writing and Referencing Guide (2023). 2 It is based on carefully selectedsources of information. All sources used are referenced.
4F

5F

Defining the terms of reference
The terms of reference of this report are based on the information needs identified by EUAA’s
target users, and build on internal and external consultations with experts and with EUAA COI
Specialist Network members. The terms of reference for this report can be found in Annex II.

Collecting information
The information gathered results from three main sets of sources: extensive desk research,
conducted using predominantly public, specialised paper-based, and electronic sources until
March 2024; occasional consultation with international experts conducted by EUAA in the

1
2

EUAA, COI Report Methodology, February 2023, url
EUAA, COI Writing and Referencing Guide, February 2023, url

12

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

period January – April 2024; peer-review process conducted by EU+ national COI experts aswell as an international expert on Sudan, until April 2024.
All sources used are referenced in the Bibliography. Wherever information could not be foundwithin the timeframes for drafting this report after carefully consulting a range of sources, thisis stated in the report.

Research challenges
The present report has encountered a number of research challenges, including: lack of orlimited reporting on the issues covered by the ToR due to the communication outage affecting
media coverage and communication opportunities in extensive areas of the country, forextensive time spans during the reference period; targeting of media personnel normallyreporting on the issues addressed by the report and that often resulted in self-censorship andrelocation; limited or scarce international and national media and other organisations
presence in most of Sudan, as a consequence of the on-going hostilities; the sensitivity of theissues at stake, and the documented reluctance of affected survivors to report about incidents
or events on safety and security grounds.

Quality control
To ensure adherence to the EUAA COI Report Methodology (2023),3 as well as compliancewith the ToR and factual accuracy of the report, a quality review was carried out by COI
specialists from the countries and organisations listed as reviewers in the Acknowledgements
section. Moreover, the report benefits from the peer-review of a prominent Sudan expert alsomentioned in the Acknowledgements.
All comments made by reviewers were taken into consideration and the vast majority of themwere implemented. The quality review phase was carried out up to 12 April 2024. EUAA also
performed the final quality review and editing of the text.
The review carried out by the mentioned departments, experts or organisations, contributes tothe overall quality of the report, but does not necessarily imply their formal endorsement of
the final report, which is the full responsibility of the EUAA.

SourcesThis report has relied upon English-language sources. In accordance with EUAA COI Report
Methodology, a range of different published documentary sources have been consulted. The
information results mainly from desk research of public specialised paper-based, andelectronic sources. These include:•

3

Reports produced by various bodies of the United Nations (UN), including thehumanitarian cluster;
EUAA, COI Report Methodology, February 2023, url

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Reports produced by other international and non-governmental organisations active in thehumanitarian field;
Reports produced by international governmental and non-governmental organisations,foundations, and advocacy organisations;
Academic publications and think tank reports;
Reports from international, regional and, whenever available, local media sources inEnglish;Social media posts by prominent local sources reporting on the situation on the ground,
notably on X;
Reports and datasets by organisations specialised in specific topics or profiles, such as
security and conflict monitoring;
Reports produced by local and grassroot organisations, often from Darfur or reporting
specifically on Darfur.

Finally, as far as maps are concerned, the administrative and food security maps wereborrowed from UNOCHA and FEWS NET respectively. The map on the security situation andterritorial control was developed and tailored to the needs of the report by PolGeoNow, and incoordination with the EUAA.
For additional details see the Annex 1: Bibliography.

Structure and use of the report
The report is divided into two parts. The first part comprises a general introductory part and asection on the security situation in selected regions. In the introductory part the report focuseson the general political and security situation of the country as of January 2024, and thenaddresses the communication and the humanitarian situation at country level, including theirimplications in terms of quality and quantity of information available to shed light on the issues
addressed in the remainder of the report. The section on the security situation maps actors,
conflict dynamics as well as security trends, events and major impacts on the civilian
population in following areas: Darfur and the Kordofans, Khartoum and Al Jazirah states.
The second part of the report addresses a selection – non exhaustive – of the main profiles
affected by the conflict. More specifically, the report addresses the situation of: journalists andmedia personnel, humanitarian and health personnel, political opponents, non-Arabs/Africans
in Darfur, women and girls, as well as child soldiers.

14

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Map on administrative regions

Map 1. Sudan Administrative Map4

4

UNOCHA, Sudan – Administrative Map, June 2021, url

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

1.

Country security and humanitariansituation

1.1.

Country overview

1.1.1.

Political situation and crisis backgroundOn 15 April 2023, hostilities broke out in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, between the Sudanese
Armed Forces (SAF), led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and a major paramilitary force,designated as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as‘Hemedti’.5 Both leaders collaborated in 2019 to the ousting of Omar Hassan al- Bashir,Sudan’s long-standing dictator,6 and then came into office as respectively the president andvice-president of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, the junta that took over the running of
the country.7 Both leaders also collaborated to topple a ‘fragile’ civilian-led government in
2021,8 which was chaired by prime minister Abdalla Hamdok.9
The controversial political process that ensued engendered the signing of a frameworkagreement in December 2022, which was reportedly ‘widely accepted in the country’ by
various military and civilian parties,10 including pro-democracy groups and most notably theForces for Freedom and Change (FFC).11 However, in April 2023, mounting tensions between
the two military leaders broke out into an open conflict, which was apparently triggered bydisagreements on the integration of the RSF into the military.12 Reportedly this compromised
any concrete possibility to restore a civilian rule in the country in the near future.13
What started as a pure ‘power struggle’ between the two military leaders, as various sources
put it,14 morphed into a full-fledged nationwide war, spanning large portions of the country:
most notably, as of January 2024, Khartoum, Darfur, the Kordofans, and Al Jazirah.15 BothWashington Post (The), Behind chaos in Sudan is a broader global power struggle, 18 April 2023, url; BBC, Sudan
crisis: Burhan and Hemedti - the two generals at the heart of the conflict, 17 April 2023, url; Hager, A., The War in
Sudan: How Weapons and Networks Shattered a Power Struggle, February 2024, url
6
The Washington Post, Behind chaos in Sudan is a broader global power struggle, 18 April 2023, url
7
Prunier, G., Is Sudan still a state?, March 2024, url
8
The Washington Post, Behind chaos in Sudan is a broader global power struggle, 18 April 2023, url; France 24,
Sudan’s power struggle an ‘existential’ tussle between two generals, two armies, 17 April 2023, url
9
Al Jazeera, Profile: Abdalla Hamdok, Sudan’s outgoing civilian leader, 3 January 2022, url
10France 24, Sudan’s power struggle an ‘existential’ tussle between two generals, two armies, 17 April 2023, url;
The Washington Post, Behind chaos in Sudan is a broader global power struggle, 18 April 2023, url
11France 24, Sudan's military, civilian factions sign framework deal aimed at ending crisis, 5 December 2022, url
12
The Washington Post, Behind chaos in Sudan is a broader global power struggle, 18 April 2023, url
13
de Waal, A., Sudan is collapsing – here’s how to stop it, 2 February 2024, url; The Washington Post, Behind chaosin Sudan is a broader global power struggle, 18 April 2023, url
14
Hager, A., The War in Sudan: How Weapons and Networks Shattered a Power Struggle, February 2024, url; NYT,
Atrocities Mount in Sudan as War Spirals, U.N. Says, 24 February 2024, url; Hager, A., The Sudan crisis: A power
struggle by design, 18 May 2023, url; France 24, Sudan’s power struggle an ‘existential’ tussle between two
generals, two armies, 17 April 2023, url; The Washington Post, Behind chaos in Sudan is a broader global power
struggle, 18 April 2023, url
15
Hager, A., The War in Sudan: How Weapons and Networks Shattered a Power Struggle, February 2024, url; NYT,
Atrocities Mount in Sudan as War Spirals, U.N. Says, 24 February 2024, url
5

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

sides have been accused of indiscriminate attacks against civilians,16 as well as of war crimes
and crimes against humanity,17 with the RSF more often identified as the perpetrator.18
At the same time, ten months into the conflict, the impact on the civilian population had beentermed as ‘devastating’ by various sources.19 As of January 2024, the conflict had caused ahumanitarian crisis of ‘unprecedented size’,20 with millions displaced in the largest internal
displacement crisis in the world.21 Hunger and acute malnutrition were affecting millions of
Sudanese across the country, with people already dying from starvation at the beginning of
February 2024, notably children.22 Moreover, the civilian population at large was facing acontinuously unfolding protection crisis, whereby ‘security concerns’ where not limited toconflict hotspots – with ‘people who want[ed] to leave... trapped in conflict areas’ - but also
extended to relatively stable areas.23
Against this backdrop, the widespread crackdown on media outlets,24 coupled with therepeated communication blackouts experienced during the reference period, had severely
affected reporting opportunities and capacities across the country.25

OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024, url,para. 18; de Waal, A., Sudan is collapsing – here’s how to stop it, 2 February 2024, url
17
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024, url,para. 32, 46, 67, 100; UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, p. 2, para. 56; AI,
Sudan: War crimes rampant as civilians killed in both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks – new report, 3 August
2023, url; Hager, A., The War in Sudan: How Weapons and Networks Shattered a Power Struggle, February 2024,
url
18
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024, url,para. 46; UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, p. 2, para. 57, 61-63; Hager,
A., The War in Sudan: How Weapons and Networks Shattered a Power Struggle, February 2024, url; AI, Sudan: War
crimes rampant as civilians killed in both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks – new report, 3 August 2023, url;
19
HRW, Sudan Conflict Fuels World’s Largest Internal Displacement, 31 January 2024, url; de Waal, A., Sudan iscollapsing – here’s how to stop it, 2 February 2024, url; Al Jazeera, UNICEF says 700,000 children in Sudan facelife-threatening malnutrition, 9 February 2024, url; Middle East Eye, Sudan: Civilians dying of starvation due towarring sides limiting aid access, says WFP, 2 February 2024, url
20
de Waal, A., Sudan is collapsing – here’s how to stop it, 2 February 2024, url; HRW, Sudan Conflict Fuels World’s
Largest Internal Displacement, 31 January 2024, url
21
The Guardian, UN warns of ‘epic suffering’ in Sudan and appeals for $4bn in aid, 7 February 2024, url
22
AP, UN food agency says it has reports of people dying from starvation amid the conflict in Sudan, 2 February
2024, url; Middle East Eye, Sudan: Civilians dying of starvation due to warring sides limiting aid access, says WFP, 2
February 2024, url; The Guardian, UN warns of ‘epic suffering’ in Sudan and appeals for $4bn in aid, 7 February
2024, url; Darfur 24, Amid local and international warnings, Sudan on the verge of hunger disaster, 21 February
2024, url; Middle East Eye, Sudan's forgotten masses are dying every day of starvation, 29 February 2024, url
23
REACH, Sudan conflict: Intensifying violence, systems collapse, and surging humanitarian needs, January 2024,
url, p. 2
24
Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url; Columbia Journalism
Review, Q&A: Hiba Morgan on Sudan’s forgotten war, 17 January 2024, url
25
SIHA Network, Access to telecommunication services is a basic human right and should not be weaponized in
Sudan’s conflict, 21 February 2024, url; Tahrir Institute, #KeepItOn in times of war: Sudan’s communications
shutdown must be reversed urgently, 9 February 2024, url; CPJ, CPJ alarmed by extended communications
blackout in Sudan, 5 February 2024, url; ETC, Sudan, conflict, ETC Situation Report #14, 31 January 2024, url, p. 2
16

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

1.1.2.

Map on territorial control of Sudan as of 31 January 2024

Map 2. Sudan Approximate Territorial Control as of 31 January 2024, Political Geography Now,
www.polgeonow.com.26
Note: the depictions on this map do not express any stance from the EUAA concerning legal status or effective
control over any country, territory, city, or area. Efforts were made to maintain accuracy; however, there is no
assurance that its features are spatially or temporally precise or fit for a particular purpose. This map is provided
without any form of warranty, whether expressed or implied.

26

PolGeoNow, Sudan Approximate Territorial Control as of 31 January 2024, n.a., non-public source.

18

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

1.1.3.
(a)Security situation
Territorial control

At the end of January 2024, the country was fragmented into different areas of control. The
SAF and the RSF were the primary factions in conflict, alongside local armed groups
controlling regional territories.27 The RSF held sway over the western states except for North
Darfur, after gaining control of strategic cities like Nyala, Zalingei, El Geneina and Ed Daien ingreater Darfur. Sudan’s capital city, Khartoum, was mostly controlled by the RSF while the SAF
controlled part of Omdurman, Khartoum’s sister city.28
The SAF retained control over the eastern and northern regions, including Port Sudan, in the
Red Sea state, which served as de facto administrative capital and an operation base for thegovernment and humanitarian aid agencies.29 Meanwhile, the RSF continued seizing new
territories. In November 2023, Jebel Awlia, a city in the south of Khartoum state fell under RSF
control,30 followed by the city of Wad Madani, the Al Jazirah capital, in December 2023.31
In South Kordofan, part of the Nuba Mountains region was controlled by the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement - North al-Hilu (SPLM-N-al-Hilu). A Joint Force including factions like theSudan Liberation Movement - Minni Minnawi faction (SLM-MM), the Justice and Equality
Movement - Jibril Ibrahim faction (JEM, also JEM-Jibril), alongside other former rebels who
signed a peace agreement with the government in 2020, controlled the northern parts ofDarfur. These groups exhibited political divisions, with some pledging support to the army andothers maintaining neutrality.32 See remainder of this section, 1.1.3 Security situation, and 1.2
Security situation in selected regions for more information on the various armed groups.
For further reference on territorial control see Map 2.
(b)

Major state and non-state armed groups

In the reference period, the primary opposing parties in the conflict were the SAF and the
RSF.33 The JEM, the SLM and the SPLM-N were among the main armed groups operating
during the same period.34 See section 1.2 Security situation in selected regions for more
information on the presence of armed groups at regional level.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is the national army and is composed of the Ground Force,
Navy, Sudanese Air Force and Border Guards.35 General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan is the

Sudan War Monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, 1 February 2024, url
Sudan War Monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, 1 February 2024, url
29
Bloomberg, A Red Sea City Becomes a Haven for Refugees From Sudan’s Civil War, 20 June 2023, url
30
Sudan War Monitor, Rapid collapse of SAF defenses in Jebel Aulia, 20 November 2023, url
31
UNOCHA, Sudan: Clashes in Wad Madani between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces(RSF) - Flash Update No: 03 (as of 18 December 2023), url
32
Sudan War Monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, 1 February 2024, url
33
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/355, 16 May 2023, url, p.1
34
Insecurity Insight, Sudan Situation Report Analysis, September 2023, url, p. 3-4
35
CIA, The World Factbook, Sudan, 13 March 2024, url
27

28

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

Commander in chief of the SAF and Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council.36 The
SAF is estimated to have around 200 000 active personnel,37 an air force and access to heavy
weaponry, tanks, and armoured personnel carriers.38 The army oversees a network of national
and international companies in a wide range of sectors including defence, agriculture,banking, mining, transport, construction, and private security.39 Armed groups backing the SAF
in the conflict during the reference period included:•

the Central Reserve Police (CRP): a militarised police unit falling under the responsibility of
the Ministry of Interior and often referred to as ‘Abu Tira’;40•

the SPLM-N-Agar: a rebel faction mainly based in the Blue Nile State.41 See section 1.2.4
The Kordofans for more information;•

the SLM-Tambour: a faction of the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) based in Darfur.
See section 1.2.1 Darfur for more information;•

the JEM: an Islamist rebel group based in Darfur. See section 1.2.1 Darfur for more
information;•members of the former Sudanese Alliance (SA), the Gathering of the Sudan Liberation
Forces (GSLF) and The Gathering of the Sudanese Justice and Equality Forces (GSJEF) led
by Abdallah Banda.42 See section 1.2.1 Darfur for more information;•

civilian volunteers known as ‘“Popular Resistance”’43 or ‘“national civil resistance”’44: sinceJune 2023, the SAF encouraged civilian mobilisation and supported armed movements
across the country.45 See 1.1.3(e) Mass mobilisation and forced recruitment for more
information.

Some of the above armed groups are also signatories of the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA), a
document signed in 2020 after the removal of al-Bashir in 2019 and the formation of atransitional government. Peace negotiations involved representatives of Sudan’s civilianmilitary transitional government and the leaders of the main armed and civilian oppositiongroups. The complex negotiations aimed at addressing key topics related to resources andgovernance.46 Tensions related to the JPA implementation have led to violence at regional
level in 2022.47 Signatories of the agreement included the JEM, the SLM/MM, the Malik Agarfaction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N-Agar), the Sudan
Liberation Movement Transitional Council (SLM-TC), the SA, the GSLF and the Third

Sudan War Monitor, Who’s who in Sudan’s new civil war?, 31 August 2023, url
Al Jazeera, The Sudan crisis: A power struggle by design, 18 May 2023, url; MEE, How the UAE kept
the Sudan war raging, 25 January 2024, url
38
Al Jazeera, The Sudan crisis: A power struggle by design, 18 May 2023, url
39
Clingendael Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Kleptocracy versus Democracy, October 2023, url,
pp. 10-11
40
REDRESS, Sudan: Central Reserve Police, Briefing (March 2022), url; CIA, The World Factbook, Sudan, 5March2024, url
41
Sudan War Monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, Zones of military control as of 1 February 2024, url
42
Sudan Tribune, Another Darfur faction joins Sudanese army in fight against RSF, 20 November 2023, url
43
Sudan War Monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, 1 February 2024, url
44
Ayin network, Sudan’s mass arming of civilians, 24 February 2024, url
45
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Sudan: Armed Popular Resistance and Widening Civil Unrest, 15
February 2024, url
46
RVI, Paying For Peace: The Political Economy Of The Juba Peace Agreement, 2023, url, pp. 8-10, 34
47
XCEPT, One Year After the Coup: What Next for Sudan’s Juba Peace Agreement?, 16 November 2022, url
36
37

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Front/Tamazuj.48 Notably, other Sudanese armed groups such as the SPLM-N-al-Hilu and theSudan Liberation Movement – Abdel Wahid al-Nur (SLM-AW) abstained from signing theagreement.49
In April 2023, the Darfur signatory groups of the JPA formed the so-called Joint Forces.50 This
neutral alliance, initially geared towards facilitating humanitarian assistance and protecting
commercial convoys, shifted to supporting military operations by the SAF by November 2023
to, in their words, ‘safeguard civilians’.51 See section 1.2.1 Darfur for more information on the
Joint Forces.
The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) is a paramilitary group formed in 2013 and led by General
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.52 The group’s origins stem from theJanjaweed, 53 a government-backed ethnic militia,54 known for its involvement in the Darfur
conflict in 2000s; one of its former senior leader was charged for war crimes and crimes
against humanity by the International Criminal Court.55 The RSF was formally legitimised by thegovernment as regular force in 2017.56 According to HRW, the armed group committed serious
violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Darfur in 2014-2015,57 as wellas in 2003-2004.58 The RSF supported both the 2019 coup and the October 2021 coup.59 The
group was officially dissolved on 18 April 2023 and declared a rebel force.60 It is estimated tohave between 70 000 and 150 000 active personnel,61 and the availability of somegovernment-supplied arms and confiscated arms.62 As of August 2023, the RSF introduced
the use of sophisticated weaponry such as Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs),
howitzers and anti-aircrafts weapons.63 With a complex financial network controlling the gold
market and engaging in mercenary operations overseas, the paramilitary group has
established its own independent sources of income.64 According to sources, these operations

ConstitutionNet, Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan, Official English version, 3 October 2020, url, p. 239
IDEA, The Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan, 2021, url, p. 12
50
Sudan Tribune, Darfur Joint Force deploys more troops to protect civilians, 2 December 2023, url
51
Sudan Tribune, Darfur Joint Force deploys more troops to protect civilians, 2 December 2023, url
52
The Washington Post, Who are the Rapid Support Forces clashing with Sudan’s military?, 15 April 2023, url;FP, The Man Who Terrorized Darfur Is Leading Sudan’s Supposed Transition, 14 May 2019, url
53
AI, Sudan: Darfur: “Too many people killed for no reason”, 3 February 2004, url
54
AI, Sudan: Darfur: “Too many people killed for no reason”, 3 February 2004, url; ODI, Talking to the other side,
Humanitarian engagement with armed non-state actors in Darfur, Sudan, 2003 - 2012, August 2013, url, pp. 21-22;
55
ICC, Case Information Sheet, The Prosecutor v. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd–Al-Rahman, 10 July 2023, url; ICC, Darfur,
Sudan, ICC-02/05, url
56
Insecurity Insight, Sudan situation report, July 2023, url, p. 3
57
Human Rights Watch, “Men with no mercy”, 9 September 2015, url
58
HRW, If We Return, We Will Be Killed: Consolidation of Ethnic Cleansing in Darfur, Sudan, 15 November 2004, url,
p. 1
59
Reuters, Who are Sudan's Rapid Support Forces?, 6 September 2023, url
60Radio Dabanga, Sudan’s Gen El Burhan dissolves Hemedti’s RSF militia as ‘rebel force’, 18 April 2023, url
61
Al Jazeera, The Sudan crisis: A power struggle by design, 18 May 2023, url; MEE, How the UAE kept the Sudan
war raging, 25 January 2024, url
62
Al Jazeera, The Sudan crisis: A power struggle by design, 18 May 2023, url
63
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 39
64
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, p. 2, para. 118, 119, 120
48

49

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

enabled the RSF to offer its troops high salaries65 paid in cash,66 acquire weapons, fund media
campaigns and buy political support.67 During the reference period, the RSF was backed by:•

local militia groups, particularly from the Arab communities in Darfur.68 In July 2023,
according to Insecurity Insight, seven tribal leaders pledged support to the RSF, namely
leaders from the ‘Beni Halba, Tarjam, Habaniya, Fellata, Misseriya, Taaisha and Rizeigat
tribes’. Misseriya, Hawazma and Rizeigat are Baggara tribes,69 with the Rizeigat mostimplicated in fighting and widely considered to be the backbone of the RSF.70 For more
information on the Rizeigat and the Baggara, including as opposed to the Abbala identity
dimension, see section 2.4.1(a) Arab ‘identity’ and 2.4.1(c) Baggara versus Abbala. As
reported by the UN Panel of Experts in January 2024, ‘the mobilization of armed members
from local Arab communities was facilitated by traditional chiefs’ as in the case of Tarjam,
Fellata and Misseriya members.71 The report indicated how a recruitment campaign was
conducted in South Darfur prior to the beginning of the conflict involving hundreds ofyoung people from Tarjam, Beni Halba, Habbaniyah, Taisha, Sa’ada, Misseriya and Fellata
local Arab communities. The source indicated that Arab leaders facilitated the recruitmentof members of their communities by the RSF, receiving money and goods in return.72
According to the UN Panel of Experts, RSF officers called for support from their own
communities getting them directly involved in the clashes.73 In ‘Greater Kordofan’, anumber of Misseriya leaders expressed in January 2024 their dissent towards the RSF
fighting in their areas,74 while other showed support for the RSF activities in the region;75•

the armed group Third Front known as Tamazuj, which declared its support to the RSF in
August 2023.76 See section 1.2.1(b) Armed actors for more information.
(c)International actors

External actors played a role in the conflict providing political and military support to the main
warring parties.77 According to sources, the RSF was provided military supplies – ranging fromsmall weapons to anti-aircraft missiles - by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) through theTahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, Money Is Power: Hemedti and the RSF’s Paramilitary Industrial
Complex in Sudan, 26 July 2023, url; Global Witness, Exposing the RSF’s secret financial network, 9 December
2019, url
66
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 121
67
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 116
68
Insecurity Insight, Sudan Situation Report Analysis, September 2023, url, p. 3; Radio Dabanga, Public support for
the RSF from seven tribal leaders in South Darfur, 4 July 2023, url
69
Insecurity Insight, Sudan Situation Report Analysis, September 2023, url, p.5
70
Reeves, E., email exchange, 28 March 2024
71
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 108, 109
72
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 105, 106
73
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 110
74
Sudan Tribune, Tension erupts within Misseriya tribe over RSF’s plans to seize West Kordofan, 12 January 2024,
url
75
Sudan Tribune, Misseriya leaders warn of invasion, oil damage in RSF assault on W. Kordofan garrisons, 13
January 2024, url
76
PolGeoNow, Sudan War Control Map & Timeline – October 2023, url; Sudan Tribune, Tamazuj group aligns with
RSF in Sudan’s ongoing war, 17 August 2023, url77
Al Sharq strategic research, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt: Complex calculations as thefighting continues in Sudan, 11 May 2023, url
65

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Amdjarass airport in Chad.78 Reuters reported that, according to the U.S. Treasury Department,
the RSF received military support from the Wagner Group,79 a Russia-linked mercenary force.80
Other sources indicated that weapons were smuggled in the country from the Wagner’s basein the Central African Republic (CAR).81 Libya has also ties to the RSF reportedly providing fuel,ammunition and medical and logistical equipment.82 Iran, according to Bloomberg, has
supplied the SAF with weapons and combat drones.83 Media sources recounted the existenceof at least five training camps, mostly ‘linked to Burhan's army or to figures from the former
Islamist-backed regime’,84 established by Sudanese armed groups in Eritrea.85 Egypt andSaudi Arabia are reportedly supporting the SAF.86 As indicated by the Wall Street Journal,
Ukrainian troops were deployed starting from mid-August 2023 onwards to support SAF
operations in Khartoum.87(d)Main conflict dynamics

According to the Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts project (RULAC), ‘the Government of Sudan[SAF] is involved in separate non-international armed conflicts against a number of non-statearmed groups’, notably the RSF, two factions of the SLM in Darfur, and at least two factions of
the SPLM-N in the Kordofans.88 According to the analysis by ACAPS, the severity level of theconflict is very high.89
The RSF traces its origin to the Arab militias established and armed by Al-Bashir’s government
to fight non-Arab groups in Darfur. Gradually expanding its capacity over time and securing its
own source of income, this group evolved into a rival force against the SAF.90 Armed
confrontations and violence erupted on 15 April 2023, following days of escalating tensions
between the SAF and the RSF. The SAF and the RSF could not find an agreement on thetimelines for the integration of the RSF into the national army and the establishment of thecommand structure.91 The SAF advocated for a two-year integration timeline, while the RSF
supported a ten-year timeframe instead.92 Following the outbreak of the conflict, members of

UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 41; MEE, How the UAE kept the
Sudan war raging, 25 January 2024, url; NYT, Talking Peace in Sudan, the U.A.E Secretly Fuels the Fight, 29
September 2023, url
79
Reuters, US warns Wagner Group seeking arms, slaps sanctions on group's head in Mali, 25 May 2023, url
80
BBC, What is Russia's Wagner group, and what has happened to its leader? 6 September 2023, url
81
The Wall Street journal, Ukraine Is Now Fighting Russia in Sudan, 6 March 2024, url; The Economist, Evidence
mounts that Ukrainian forces are in Sudan, 15 February 2024, url
82
ADF, UAE Role in Sudan’s Civil War Draws Criticism, 30 January 2024, url
83
The National News, Reports on drones used by Sudan's army could be sign of expanding Iranian influence, 25
January 2024, url; The Washington Institute, Iran in Sudan: Fears of a Sudanese Popular Mobilization Forces, 31
January 2024,url
84
VOA, SAF, RSF Conflict Threatens Sudan’s Eastern Border, 1 February 2024, url
85
VOA, SAF, RSF Conflict Threatens Sudan’s Eastern Border, 1 February 2024, url; Radio Dabanga, Eritrea militarytraining camps raise concerns about security in eastern Sudan, 26 January 2024, url
86
Al Sharq strategic research, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt: Complex calculations as thefighting continues in Sudan, 11 May 2023, url
87
The Wall Street journal, Ukraine Is Now Fighting Russia in Sudan, 6 March 2024, url
88
RULAC, Non-international armed conflicts in Sudan, 15 May 2023, url
89
ACAPS, Current Crises in Sudan, 29 January 2024, url
90
ICG, Sudan’s Calamitous Civil War: A Chance to Draw Back from the Abyss, 9 January 2024, url
91
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
The Sudan, S/2023/355, 16 May 2023, url, para. 7
92
FP, Hemeti’s Rise in Sudan Is a Threat to Regional Stability, 24 April 2023, url
78

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

the al-Bashir National Congress Party and the wider Sudan’s political Islamic movement havere-emerged to support the national army’s military efforts.93
During the initial phase of the conflict, the RSF secured control over the western region of thecountry while the army retained most of the northern and eastern territories.94 The
involvement of a number of armed groups engaging with one or both of the primary warring
parties added an additional layer of complexity to the conflict.95 Both the SAF and the RSF
engaged in urban warfare vying for control of strategic locations, particularly around
Khartoum, the Darfur region and the Kordofan states.96
The city of Khartoum, along with the adjacent cities of Omdurman and Bahri, witnessed asignificant portion of the reported security incidents in the country since mid-April 2023.97
Between July and September 2023, the SAF intensified airstrikes in response to escalating
violence in Khartoum while the RSF increased shelling.98 Fighting involved urban areas
surrounding military bases in the southeast area of Khartoum with the RSF overtaking the SAF
air force base in Jebel Awlia in November 2023.99 In January 2024, SAF opposed the RSF
regaining control over some areas of the city.100
In ‘Greater Kordofan’ the RSF launched an attack in April 2023 on El Obeid, the capital ofNorth Kordofan, damaging the airport facilities.101 The SPLM-N-al-Hilu forces engaged inclashes with the SAF since the end of May 2023 seizing control of six localities in South
Kordofan102 with the conflict focusing around Kadugli, the state capital.103 In January 2024,
Babanusa, a city in West Kordofan, and its surroundings experienced high level of violence
due to confrontations between the SAF and the RSF.104
In Greater Darfur, the RSF seized four out of five states taking control of SAF headquarters inWest Darfur (El Geneina on 15 June), South Darfur (Nyala on 26 October), Central Darfur(Zalingei on 31 October), West Darfur (Ardamata on 4 November) and East Darfur (Ed Daien on
22 November). In the first months of the conflict, the RSF carried out attacks against non-Arabcommunities in El Geneina, Misterei and other towns in West Darfur, looting and burning down
towns.105 Fighting affected urban areas in the region, such as Nyala in August and September
2023.106 By mid-December 2023, the RSF asserted control in most areas in the region,
including the main border crossings and key cities.107 By the end of the year, clashes reduced
but continued in RSF-controlled areas mainly due to either RSF raids or SAF airstrikes.108 As of
Al Jazeera, What next for Sudan fighting after top Bashir-era officials freed, 28 April 2023, url
ICG, Sudan’s Calamitous Civil War: A Chance to Draw Back from the Abyss, 9 January 2024, url
95
Insecurity Insight, Sudan Situation Report, September 2023, url, p. 4
96
REDRESS, Ruining A Country, Devastating Its People, September 2023, url, p. 17
97
ACLED, Sudan: The SAF Breaks the Siege, 16 February 2024, url
98
Al Jazeera, At least 32 civilians killed in Sudan army attacks: Activists, 6 September 2023, url
99
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Unravelling the Conflict Dynamics in Darfur, 1 December 2023, url
100
ACLED, Sudan: The SAF Breaks the Siege, 16 February 2024, url
101Radio Dabanga, More than 50 dead following Sudan Army-RSF clashes in El Obeid, 18 April 2023, url
102
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024, url, para. 22
103
Insecurity Insight, Sudan Situation Report Analysis, September 2023, url, p. 2
104
Sudan Tribune, Over 45,000 people flee ruined West Kordofan’s city, 28 January 2024, url
105
HRW, World report 2024 - Sudan Events of 2023, 11 January 2024, url
106
HRW, World report 2024 - Sudan Events of 2023, 11 January 2024, url
107
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 5, 6, 80
108
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Unravelling the Conflict Dynamics in Darfur, 1 December 2023, url
93

94

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

January 2024, tensions persisted among the SAF, the RSF and the Joint Forces stationed in El
Fasher, capital of North Darfur, the only state in the region not under RSF control.109
In Al Jazirah, the RSF took control of the capital, Wad Madani, on 15 December 2023.110(e)Mass mobilisation and forced recruitment

In a speech in June 2023, the head of the SAF called for mass mobilisation against the RSF.
Islamist groups close to the government responded favourably to the call whereas theannouncement was met with rejection by pro-democracy and civil society organisations.111 The
army opened dozens of sites – called Pride and Dignity military training camps - in River Nileand Kassala states aiming to provide basic military training to 10 000 young volunteers.112
Media reported that thousands of Sudanese civilians have either armed themselves andformed self-defence groups – as in Al Jazirah after the fall of Wad Madani in December
2023113 - or have been armed by the SAF, with recount of Islamists agents involved in the
distribution of weapons.114
Many combat training sites for women and girls were set up and more than 5 000 female
recruits were registered.115 According to a source quoted by MEE, the army has trained 15 000
fighters from the Masalit group at a camp in Gebeit, in eastern Sudan.116 Those recruited to join
the army were designated as ‘the mobilised’, mustanfareen in Arabic. They were often young
men and not accustomed to the use of weapons. A source quoted by Ayin network indicatedthat they were allowed by the army to set up military posts on roads and in residential
neighbourhoods and search and arrest citizens.117 MEE reported that dozens of volunteers
have been killed in battle.118
Since the beginning of the conflict, according to Ayin network ‘the RSF mobilised ethnicallydriven civilian recruitment campaigns, what [was] locally known as ‘“Al-Fa’a”’.119 See on thispoint also section (b) Major state and non-state armed groups. Further, in areas brought under
its control, the RSF ordered inhabitants to provide the paramilitary force with volunteers who
would be armed to ‘protect their territory’.120 For instance, a CNN investigation published in
March 2024, found that in the previous three months almost 700 men and 65 children had
been forcibly recruited by the RSF in the recently seized Al Jazirah state alone.121

Sudan Tribune, Renewed clashes erupt in El Fasher, leaving one dead and four injured, 24 January 2024, url
Le Monde, Au Soudan, les Forces de soutien rapide s’emparent de Wad Madani et aggravent la crise
humanitaire, 20 December 2023, url
111
MEE, Sudan Army chief's mobilisation call divides opinion, 29 June 2023, url
112Radio Dabanga, Sudan army mobilisation intensifies with Pride and Dignity training camps for volunteer recruits,
11 July 2023, url
113
Al Jazeera, Sudan’s civilians pick up arms, as RSF gains and army stumbles, 24 December 2023, url
114
MEE, Sudanese take up arms against RSF as army begins to push back, 5 February 2024, url
115
Sky News, 'I'm here to defend my daughters and myself': Inside one of Sudan's combat training camps for
women and girls, 12 February 2024, url
116
MEE, Sudanese take up arms against RSF as army begins to push back, 5 February 2024, url
117
Ayin network, Sudan’s mass arming of civilians, 24 February 2024, url
118
MEE, Sudanese take up arms against RSF as army begins to push back, 5 February 2024, url
119
Ayin network, Sudan’s mass arming of civilians, 24 February 2024, url
120
The Defense Post, Sudan Civilians Rush for Arms as Paramilitaries Advance, 28 December 2023, url
121
CNN, ‘Enlist or die’: Fear, looming famine and a deadly ultimatum swell the ranks of Sudan’s paramilitary forces,
19 March 2024, url
109
110

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

On 28 May 2023, Minni Minnawi, Governor of Darfur and leader of the SLM-MM called on
citizens to pick up arms and ‘“defend themselves”’.122
For further information on forced recruitment and the implications for children, see section 2.6
Child soldiers.
(f)State protection, rule of law, and administration of justice

The African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) reported as early as July 2023 thatthe outbreak of the hostilities in April 2023 had disrupted the work of law enforcement
agencies, including police forces and judicial institutions, and ‘exposed civilians to widespreadviolations and vandalism’. This resulted in the escape of hundreds of convicts from prisons invarious Sudanese cities, the transformation of some police stations in detention centres, andthe participation of some police units in the fighting.123 In Khartoum alone, OHCHR indicatedthat around 12 000 prisoners had escaped from various prisons – Al-Huda, Kober, Omdurman,
Soba - by 25 April 2023.
In other reports, still ACJPS spoke about ‘total lack of civilian protection’,124 with ‘paramilitary
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and bandit groups... [taking] advantage of the chaos’,125 and of ageneral situation where ‘law and order ha[d] broken down... with none of the police stations
operating across the country’.126 OHCHR’s report from February 2024 corroborates this overall
picture, notably with regards to the administration of justice and the rule of law in Khartoum,
the Kordofans and Darfur regions. While the departure or displacement of judicial personnel
contributed to the ‘shutdown of justice institutions’ in some areas across the country, ‘thedomestic justice system [did] not have the means or the capacity’ to operate in full respect ofinternational standards.127
In its various post April-2023 Protection Briefs, UNHCR had described the situation acrossSudan as well as in Darfur in similar terms: collapse of law and order, related widespreadsurge of criminality, absence of law enforcement actors.128 Reporting about the situation in
Darfur, UNHCR indicated that at the end of September 2023, 14 law enforcement facilities,
including police stations, and 16 governance structures, including ‘line ministry offices’, hadbeen destroyed, looted or occupied across Darfur, among other affected civilian objects. In
many parts of the State, ‘rule of law and civilian protection mechanisms ha[d] largely
collapsed’.129
Within this context, ACJPS indicated that after seizing control of the various regional capitals notably Nyala in South Darfur, El Geneina in West Darfur, and Zalingei in Central Darfur - the
RSF command called on both the police and the judicial institutions to keep carrying out their
Al Jazeera, What does Minnawi’s call to arms mean for Darfur?, 1 June 2023, url
ACJPS, Sexual Slavery in Khor Jahannam, 13 January 2024, url, p. 4
124
ACJPS, Fourteen female IDPs including children sexually violated in South Darfur, 3 January 2024, url, pp. 1-2
125
ACJPS, Sudan armed conflict: A war on women, 3 January 2024, url, p. 1
126
ACJPS, RSF and allied militia accused of looting vehicles including those carrying humanitarian aid, 9 January2024, url
127
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 90, 93
128
UNHCR, Protection Brief Sudan, June 2023, url, p. 5; UNHCR, Protection Brief Sudan, July 2023, url, pp. 2-3
129
UNHCR, Protection Brief Darfur Region, October 2023, url, p. 4
122
123

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

duties.130 However, at the end of January 2024, Reeves and Saeneen indicated that the‘overall situation in the country, especially in Darfur, [was] getting worse every day. Life for the
displaced ha[d] become very difficult, with the constant lurking danger of violence, murder,
rape, and displacement’. People had lost confidence in any authority with the police forces
either not acting or ‘unable to defend even themselves from the militias’.131(g)Overall security statistics

From 15 April 2023 to 31 January 2024 ACLED observed 4 690 security incidents at national
level for a total estimate of 13 868 fatalities, both combatants and civilians, in all country.
However, as reported by sources, including ACLED,132 these figures are likely to beunderestimates, as incidents and fatalities might not be officially recorded by local and healthauthorities due to the ongoing conflict.133
Among the 4 690 security events recorded by ACLED, 2 574 (55 %) were coded as battles,
1 312 (28 %) as explosions/remote violence and 804 (17 %) as incidents of violence against
civilians.134
Security incidents in Sudan: 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
Battles

Explosions/Remote violence

Violence against civilians

700
600
500
400

300
200
100
0
Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Figure 1. Evolution of security events coded as battles, explosions/remote violence and violence against
civilians in Sudan, 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024, based on ACLED data135

In 1 129 instances (24 %) civilians were the primary or only target. The overall number ofincidents increased steadily until August 2023, fluctuating slightly in the following months.136
Security incidents were recorded in all regions, with Khartoum, Darfur, the Kordofans and Al
Jazirah registering the highest numbers during the reference period. Khartoum reported the
ACJPS, The recent political and human rights developments in Darfur, 11 January 2024, url, p. 1
Reeves, E., Project Update, January 28, 2024: Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur, 28 January 2024, url
132
ACLED, Sudan: Setting the Stage for a Long War, 17 January 2024, url
133
Reuters, Sudan war’s death toll in Khartoum is double official figures, independent tallies show, 28 July 2023, url;
The Guardian, Monday briefing: Charting the forgotten crisis in Sudan, 26 February 2024, url
134
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
135
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
136
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
130
131

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

highest overall number of incidents (3 275, 72 %) and the overall higher number of incidents
per month in August (482).137 The Darfur region reported 696 (15 %) incidents, the majority ofwhich occurred in South Darfur (250).138 The Kordofans registered 431 incidents since thebeginning of the conflict, with South Kordofan reaching a peak in July and North Kordofan
towards the end of the year. Khartoum state accounted for 47 % of the fatalities followed by
Darfur with 36 %, more than half of it in West Darfur alone.139
Security incidents by type and region: 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
Battles

Explosions/Remote violence

Violence against civilians

3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500

0
Al Jazirah

Kordofan region

Darfur region

Khartoum

Figure 2. Security events coded as battles, explosions/remote violence and violence against civilians by regionin Sudan between 15 April 2023 and 31 January 2024, based on ACLED data140

Estimated number of fatalities - 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
3000

2513

2500
2000
1500
1000

1247

1473

1708

1610

1386

1655

760

638

878

500
0
Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Figure 3. Fatalities as a result of armed conflict in Sudan, 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024. Monthly breakdown
based on ACLED data141

EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
138
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
139
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
140
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
141
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
137

28

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

With regards to casualties due to explosions/remote violence, Action on Armed Violence(AOAV) indicated that 102 incidents and 1 830 civilian casualties have been recorded in Sudan
as of October, making 2023 the deadliest year in Sudan since AOAV started recording in2010.142 Urban residential areas have been the most impacted locations during this period,
accounting for 69 % (70) of recorded incidents, and 51 % (939) of civilian casualties, with
attacks on markets being the most injurious, harming on average 39.4 civilians per attack.143
Ground-launched weapons have caused the majority of civilian harm, accounting for 75 % (1368) of civilian casualties across 65 incidents. Non-specific shelling caused 736 reported
civilian casualties across 39 incidents, while artillery shells caused 291 civilian casualties, andtank shells 133. With regards to air-launched weapons, air strikes account for 26 of the 27
incidents, and 388 civilian casualties.144 Between November 2023 and January 2024, 43
incidents of explosive violence were recorded causing 1 267 civilian casualties. In January2024, civilians accounted for 99 % of the recorded casualties, with 57 % of the incidents
occurring in urban residential areas, and 80 % of incidents attributed to airstrikes.145

1.1.4.

Communication blackout and media coverage(a)Crackdown on media outlets and conflict media coverage

Sources agreed that, as a consequence of the war, many media houses had been looted, andthat the majority of media outlets in Sudan were no longer operational during the reference
period. Journalists and media workers lived in a dire situation and experienced a growing
trend of targeted attacks while reporting on incidents.146
According to the Sudanese Journalism Syndicate (SJS), quoted by the Ayin network, as ofNovember 2023, 26 Newspapers have stopped publishing, 17 radio stations have shut down,
and 6 television stations based in Khartoum have also closed down, while the premises of the
National Radio and Television Corporation, which had been taken over by the RSF,147 havebeen turned into makeshift detention centres.148 For more information on the situation ofjournalists and media personnel see section 2.1 Journalists and treatment of media personnel.
At the same time, during the reference period international media attention dwindled becauseof a number of issues: diverted media attention to other contexts; no presence of international
journalists in conflict areas, notably in Khartoum, Darfur and the Kordofans; security concerns,
also with respect to anger and tension from civilians; lack of connectivity and electricity. A
source stated that many commentators have labelled the war in Sudan a ‘“forgotten war”’.149

AOAV, Sudan: 11 civilians killed, 90 injured by artillery shelling in Omdurman, Khartoum, 12 October 2023, url
AOAV, Sudan: 11 civilians killed, 90 injured by artillery shelling in Omdurman, Khartoum, 12 October 2023, url
144
AOAV, Sudan: 11 civilians killed, 90 injured by artillery shelling in Omdurman, Khartoum, 12
October 2023, url
145
AOAV, Explosive Violence in January 2024, 10 February 2024, url
146Free Press Unlimited, The Sudan war is also a crisis for the safety of journalists, 23 June 2023, url; Columbia
Journalism Review, Q&A: Hiba Morgan on Sudan’s forgotten war, 17 January 2024, url
147
Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
148
Sudan Tribune, RSF turned media premises into detention facilities: Sudanese Journalists Union, 7 December
2023, url; Columbia Journalism Review, Q&A: Hiba Morgan on Sudan’s forgotten war, 17 January 2024, url
149
Columbia Journalism Review, Q&A: Hiba Morgan on Sudan’s forgotten war, 17 January 2024, url
142
143

29

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM(b)

Propaganda war

Based on a survey conducted by Ayin network among Sudanese civilians and concerning
access to information, ‘most local media houses are now either shuttered or have becomemouthpieces for one of the warring parties’.150
After taking control of West and South Darfur, RSF re-opened the state radio stations in El
Geneina and Nyala, using them for their ‘propaganda war’.151 As from beginning of June 2023,
after the seizing of the state broadcasters by the RSF, Sudan TV restored its services via
satellite, while Omdurman FM, which is the national radio, resumed broadcasting on AM
frequencies. The same source indicated that both radio and television stations transmitted
primarily ‘SAF news and propaganda’, at times posing risks for the civilian population by
spreading false claims.152
Reportedly, both warring parties have resorted intensively to social media sites, especially
Facebook, with the RSF featuring heavily on Tik-Tok.153(c)

Mobile networks, internet access and blackouts

In its country profile on Sudan, the Emergency Telecommunication Cluster (ETC), led by the
WFP, indicates that 76 % of the Sudanese population had a mobile-cellular subscription in
2023, while the fixed-wired broadband subscription was less than 1 % (0.07 per 100
inhabitants).154 According to another source, cellular mobile connections were 32.59 million asof January 2023, corresponding to 68.6 % of the total population, which was 47.49 million atthat time.155 Internet access among the population stood instead at 28.4 %, even in January2023, with 13.49 million internet users.156
Against this general backdrop, in its monthly reports for December 2023 and January 2024,
the ETC indicated that Sudan’s communication infrastructure remained impacted by the ongoing war, ‘with direct damage to the telecommunication towers’, a ‘deteriorated power grid
supply’, and ‘extensive looting of communications assets across the country’.157
At the end of January 2024, the ETC indicated that ‘telecommunications service providers in
Sudan continue[d] to be cut off sporadically across the country with large parts of Darfur
experiencing months-long blackouts’.158
At the end of December 2023, the ETC indicated that the three Mobile Network Operators in
the country – MTN Sudan, Zain Sudan, and Sudatel Sudan,159 ‘[were] gradually restoring voice

Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
152
CIPESA, Sudan Conflict Affects Digital Communications and Critical Services Delivery, 5 June 2023, url
153
Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
154
ETC, Sudan Country ICT Profile, 2023, Communications service providers, 2023, url
155
Datareportal, Digital 2023: Sudan, 14 February 2023, url
156
Datareportal, Digital 2023: Sudan, 14 February 2023, url
157
ETC, Sudan, conflict, ETC Situation Report #14, 31 January 2024, url, p. 2; ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report#13, 31 December 2023, url, p. 2
158
ETC, Sudan, conflict, ETC Situation Report #14, 31 January 2024, url, p. 2
159
ETC, Sudan Country ICT Profile, 2023, Communications service providers, 2023, url
150
151

30

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

services in Port Sudan and [that] the service [was] improving daily in the eastern cities andother locations except in inaccessible locations’.160 However, most locations in Sudan still
relied on Sudatel whose services remained congested because of the high number of peopleusing them,161 and the high ‘concentration of internally displaced people (IDPs) in safer areas
away from the active fighting’, as already noted in June 2023.162
In terms of access to internet, ETC reported that two of the major internet providers – among
these the ETC lists Canar and Sudatel163 - were not fully operational at the end of December
2023, while VSAT – very small aperture terminal - services were unreliable.164
As mentioned above, internet services were regularly intermittently disrupted since theoutbreak of the war in April 2023.165 The same applied to mobile network operators’
services.166 At the beginning of February 2024, the entire country started to experience anear-total blackout blamed on the RSF,167 leaving most of the people ‘in the dark’ in a country
where ‘smartphone use for most aspects of life was ubiquitous’.168(d)Social media and access to information

As pointed out by various sources, internet and telecommunications represented lifeline
resources for the average Sudanese.169 People relied on them ‘to wire money, find cash, findout information about safe routes and transportation and to find food and medication’,170 as
well as to remain in contact with ‘loved ones’.171
In this context, WhatsApp represented a crucial source of information for most people in
Sudan,172 also given the gained prominence in recent years of social media platforms,
including Facebook and X.173

ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #13, 31 December 2023, url, p. 2
ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #13, 31 December 2023, url, p. 2
162
ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #2, 2 June 2023, url, p. 2
163
ETC, Sudan Country ICT Profile, 2023, Communications service providers, 2023, url
164
ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #13, 31 December 2023, url, p. 2
165
ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #14, 31 January 2024, url, p. 2; ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #13, 31
December 2023, url, p. 2; Freedom House, Sudan – Freedom on the net 2023, 2023, url
166Radio Dabanga, Fighting leads to internet cuts, Sudanese protests against the war, 24 April 2023, url; SMEX,
Sudan: Internet Shutdowns Fuel Human Rights Abuses, 28 April 2023, url; AfricaNews, Khartoum internet, mobile
networks cut as fighting rages, 14 July 2023, url; Radio Dabanga, Phone, internet falters in eastern Sudan, 4February 2024, url
167
Al Jazeera, Network blackout cuts communications for millions in war-torn Sudan, 7 March 2024, url; Reuters,
Sudanese left in the dark by RSF-imposed telecoms blackout, 12 February 2024, url; see also Radio Dabanga,
Phone, internet falters in eastern Sudan, 4 February 2024, url
168
Reuters, Sudanese left in the dark by RSF-imposed telecoms blackout, 12 February 2024, url
169
Hassab, A., [@errfnern, X], posted on 7 February 2024, url; Elbagir, Y., [@YousraElbagir, X], posted 8 February
2024, url
170
Hassab, A., [@errfnern, X], posted on 7 February 2024, url
171
Elbagir, Y., [@YousraElbagir, X], posted 8 February 2024, url
172
Columbia Journalism Review, Q&A: Hiba Morgan on Sudan’s forgotten war, 17 January 2024, url; UNESCO, In the
Shadow of Violence: The Pressing Needs of Sudanese Journalists, 8 November 2023, url; Free Press Unlimited,
The Sudan war is also a crisis for the safety of journalists, 23 June 2023, url
173
MiCT, In the Shadow of Violence: The Pressing Needs of Sudanese Journalists, October 2023, url, p. 18
160
161

31

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

However, on the backdrop of the hostilities erupted in April 2023, due to widespread
destruction and ‘minimal’ internet connectivity, WhatsApp messaging was limited.174 Fakemessages were another issue of concern whereby they attracted people ‘in search of food’ toareas where they were then ‘violently attacked’.175 Reportedly, civilians often also relied ‘onphone calls from friends to receive updates since they [could not] rely on the local media
anymore’.176
With phone and internet services disrupted in several areas of the country, andcommunication severely hindered, particularly in Darfur, because of an already poor
communication infrastructure, handwritten letters made a comeback in order to allow people
to connect across cities.177
For information on journalists and media personnel see section 2.1 Journalists and treatmentof media personnel. For information on implications for the humanitarian situation see section
1.1.5 Humanitarian situation, and notably subsection 1.1.5(d) Aid delivery.
(e)Communication blackouts, perpetrating, and reporting abuses

According to Insecurity Insight, internet access in Sudan was concentrated in key areas suchas the capital, Khartoum, which in 2022 accounted for around 70 % of the country’s electricity
usage, while most rural areas suffered from unsteady access to electricity: ‘as a result, internet
and social media usage [was] heavily biased towards Khartoum’.178 As the social media spacein Sudan is dominated by users who are mostly Khartoum-based and have pro-SAF views,‘incidents perpetrated by SAF members may be less likely to be reported through suchmedia’, according to Security Insight.179
Against this backdrop, Social Media Exchange (SMEX), a non-profit organisation that
advocates for human rights in digital spaces across West Asia and North Africa, noted as earlyas April 2023 that internet shutdowns - which had taken place intermittently since theoutbreak of the hostilities - were instrumental to concealing evidence of human rights
violations and the spreading of war propaganda, with warring parties having in most cases‘malicious or even criminal motives’.180 At the beginning of February 2024 a number ofgrassroots organisations, reunited in the #KeepitOn-coalition, signed a joint communiquéasking for the reinstatement of internet access across the country.181 Sudan Tribune, onFree Press Unlimited, The Sudan war is also a crisis for the safety of journalists, 23 June 2023, urlFree Press Unlimited, The Sudan war is also a crisis for the safety of journalists, 23 June 2023, url
176
Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
177
AA, In war-stricken Sudan, handwritten letters connect people, 15 September 2023, url
178
Insecurity Insight, Designation of MSF Attackers as “Armed Men” Criticised by SAF Supporters in Sudan,
September 2023, url, p. 1
179
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 1
180
SMEX, Sudan: Internet Shutdowns Fuel Human Rights Abuses, 28 April 2023, url; see also SMEX, Internet andTelecom Shutdowns in Sudan: Who is responsible?, 8 May 2023, url; CIPESA, Sudan Conflict Affects Digital
Communications and Critical Services Delivery, 5 June 2023, url
181
Tahrir Institute, #KeepItOn in times of war: Sudan’s communications shutdown must be reversed urgently, 9
February 2024, url
174

175

32

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

various occasions, reported about the RSF taking advantage of the blackouts to attack
civilians, notably in Al Jazirah state.182

1.1.5.

Humanitarian situation

At the end of January 2024, Sudan was experiencing one of the worst humanitarian crises
globally.183 With an overall estimated population of 48.1 million people,184 UNOCHA indicatedthat humanitarian needs across Sudan were at ‘record highs’, with 24.8 million, or every
second person, in need of assistance in 2024.185
Needs across all clusters – food security, health, water and sanitation, protection, education,
nutrition, shelter, refugee, common services, telecommunication, logistics - were already at an‘all-time high’ in April 2023. Nine months into the conflict, out of 18.1 million intended to be‘targeted’ to receive humanitarian assistance, 7 million had been reached with some form oflife-saving assistance by 167 humanitarian partners, according to UNOCHA.186 Humanitarian
Outcomes indicated instead that aid reached only 16 % of those in need, roughly 4 million
people.187
The ‘dire’ internal humanitarian situation, which included ‘unprecedented mass displacement’,acute hunger, limited access to healthcare, and the outbreak of cholera cases,188 was coupledwith the emergency caused by large refugee populations newly arrived in neighbouring
countries and also in need of life-saving assistance.189
A number of challenges, including lack of security, looting, scarce humanitarian presence on
the ground, fuel shortages, and poor communication services – see about this section 1.1.4
Communication blackout and media coverage - were still severely affecting the delivery ofhumanitarian aid in many areas of the country at the end of the reference period.190
Against this general backdrop the United Nations’ agencies, UNOCHA and UNHCR, jointly
launched the Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan191 and the Regional Refugee
Response Plan for 2024192 at the beginning of February 2024.193 Described as the ‘biggest

Sudan Tribune, Sudanese activists report civilian deaths in clashes with RSF, 13 February 2024, url; Sudan
Tribune, Resistance Committees report civilians’ murder during RSF armed robberies in Central Sudan, 17 February
2024, url; Sudan Tribune, RSF accused of fresh violations, army intensifies operations in Al-Jazeera state, 3 March
2024, url; Sudan Tribune, Reports emerge of alleged RSF violations in Al-Jazira State, Sudan, 20 February 2024, url
183
UNOCHA, Sudan Situation Report, 4 February 2024, url, p. 3
184
UNFPA, World Population Dashboard – Sudan, 2023, url
185
UNOCHA, Sudan Humanitarian Update, 4 February 2024, url, p. 3
186
UNOCHA, Humanitarian Response Dashboard as of 31 December 2023, url, p. 1
187
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, pp. 3, 6, 13
188
UNOHCHR, Sudan: 25 million people in dire humanitarian need, say UN experts, 5 February 2024, url
189
UNHCR, Sudan Situation External Update no. 46, 31 January 2024, url, p. 2
190
UNOCHA, Sudan Humanitarian Update, 4 February 2024, url, p. 3; iMMAP, Sudan Crisis – Information
Landscape, 19 January 2024, url, pp. 3, 15
191
UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan Sudan, 21 December 2023, url
192
UNHCR, Sudan Regional Refugee Response Plan, January 2024, url; UNHCR, Sudan Regional Refugee
Response Plan – At a glance, January 2024, url
193
UN, Joint launch of Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan and Regional Refugee Response Plan for
Sudan for 2024, 2 February 2024, url
182

33

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

humanitarian operation yet for Sudan’,194 it aimed at reaching nearly 15 million people inside
the country, and another 2.7 million people in five neighbouring countries.195(a)

IDPs and refugees on the move

Internally Displaced Persons
As of January 2024, Sudan was hosting a total estimated IDP population of 10.7 million
people, making it the largest global displacement crisis in the world.196 Prior to the 15 April
conflict, Sudan was already hosting an estimated 3.8 million IDPs,197 with the majority living incamps in Darfur,198 roughly 80 % according to older estimates.199
Based on the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Data by IOM, as of 30 January 2024, anestimated 6 144 363 individuals had been ‘recently internally displaced’ and were observed in
6 594 locations across all of Sudan’s 18 States.200 54 % of these were below 18 years old of
age and 54 % were female.201 According to UNICEF, as of 31 December 2023, 3.5 million
children had been displaced internally and across borders.202 Of those recently displaced,
37 % or 2 286 285 individuals had relocated to rural areas, of which 140 043 resided in IDP
camps, while the remaining 63 % or 3 858 078 individuals had relocated to urban areas, ofwhich 220 455 resided in IDP camps.203
Khartoum, as a ‘state of origin’, accounted for 57 % or 3 522 784 people of all recently
displaced individuals in Sudan, while Darfur (as a whole) and still as a ‘state of origin’,accounted for 32,4 % or 1 991 613 people. In order of importance, these areas were followed
by Al Jazirah state, with 439 339 individuals or 7,2 %, and the Kordofan states, with 166 698
individuals or 2,7 %. Darfur, as a whole, represented a ‘state of destination’ as well for almost
2 375 000 individuals, accounting for nearly the 40 % of the entire newly displaced populationin Sudan at the end of January 2024.204

Sudan Tribune, UN unveils plans to aid millions impacted by Sudan crisis, 5 February 2024, url
UN, Joint launch of Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan and Regional Refugee Response Plan for
Sudan for 2024, 2 February 2024, url
196
UNOCHA, Sudan Humanitarian Update, 4 February 2024, url, p. 1
197
IOM, DTM, Monthly Displacement Overview (05), 2 February 2024, url, p. 2; IOM, DTM, Sudan’s InternallyDisplaced Persons - 2023 Estimates, January 2024, url, p. 1
198
UNHCR, Mid-Year Trends 2023, 25 October 2023, url, p. 8
199
UN News, Clashes displace thousands in Darfur, where 6.2 million will need assistance next year, 7 December
2021, url
200
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, pp. 1-2
201
IOM, DTM, Monthly Displacement Overview (05), 2 February 2024, url, p. 3
202
UNICEF, Humanitarian Situation Report no. 14, 30 January 2024, url, p. 1
203
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 2
204
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 2
194

195

34

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

SUDAN, IDPs States of Origin and Displacement, 2 February 2024
132089Blue Nile

168723Kassala241059Red Sea

384906

Gedaref402131

Northern

700210River Nile
504251White Nile

IDPs States of displacement

8110

IDPs States of origin

434707

Sennar15819
148444

North Kordofan

43730
128711

West Kordofan

56269
131110South Kordofan

66699
660940

East Darfur

73538
146030West Darfur

207977390035Central Darfur

257952347449Al Jazira439339462492

North Darfur

503668714663

South Darfur

94847846443

Khartoum

352278405000001000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

3500000

4000000

Figure 4. Sudan, IDPs States of Origin and Displacement, 2 February 2024. EUAA elaboration based on IOM
DTM DATA205

Reportedly, based on IOM data, the vast majority of newly displaced IDPs were sheltered byhosting communities – 67 % or 823 807 households out of 1 224 269 – while the remaining
households had found shelter in schools or other public buildings (13 %), rented
accommodations (7 %), and various types of IDP sites: IDP ‘camps’ (6 %), ‘open area informal
settlements’ (6 %), ‘improvised/critical shelters’ (1 %).206 Most of those newly displaced who
were sheltered in ‘regular’ IDP camps, which were reportedly 72 100 households as of 30

205
206

IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 2
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, pp. 1-3

35

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUMJanuary 2024, were located in Darfur (55 318), with the following breakdown: South Darfur,
25 566; North Darfur, 17 903; Central Darfur, 9 247; East Darfur, 2 602.207 The number ofhouseholds hosted in ‘regular’ IDP camps was 77 274 just two weeks earlier, as of 18 January2024, with Central Darfur accounting for 14 727 households.208 However, Sudan expert
Reeves questioned the precision and the full reliability of this data given the lack of reporting
personnel on the ground and the massive scale of displacement in the region.209
Within this context, at the end of January 2024, iMMAP reported that ‘as the majority of IDPs
continue to live with the host communities, the initial solidarity is increasingly giving way toeconomic strains, leading to a gradual erosion of support’. As a result, many IDPs are driven
towards collective sites or public buildings, while a small number live in ‘improvised orseverely damaged shelters’.210 The shelter crisis in Sudan has led to a near tripling of People in
Need (PIN) in the course of 2023, rising to 8.6 million people.211
Against this general backdrop, sources agree that IDP gathering sites and camps were often‘raided’ or targeted by the RSF and allied militias in Darfur.212 For further information on
targeting along ethnic lines in IDP sites, among others, see section 2.4 Non-Arabs/Africans in
Darfur, 2.4.2 Targeting. For further information on sexual violence against women and girls in
IDP sites see section 2.5 Women and girls, and subsection 2.5.2(c) Women in IDP sites.
Asylum seekers, refugees and returnees
In addition to internal displacement, as of January 2024, the conflict in Sudan had caused
mixed cross border movements of 1 780 295 individuals – Sudanese nationals (63 %),returnees and foreign nationals (37 %) - into neighbouring countries, with the following
breakdown: 682 499 to Chad, 542 199 to South Sudan, 415 000 to Egypt, 108 121 to Ethiopia,
26 421 to Central African Republic (CAR), and 6 055 to Libya.213
However, these figures are drawn from a combination of different sources – IOM, UNHCR, andnational sources of the hosting country - and at times refer to slightly different timeframes
between the end of 2023 and 4 February 2024. Data for Egypt, which are provided by the
Egypt Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are as of 31 December 2023, data for CAR as of 22 January2024, and data for Chad as of 28 January 2024.214

IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 3
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 18, 23 January 2024, url, p. 3
209
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
210
iMMAP, Sudan Crisis – Shelter Thematic Report, 31 January 2024, url, p. 3
211
iMMAP, Sudan Crisis – Shelter Thematic Report, 31 January 2024, url, p. 2
212
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, p. 1, para. 19-20, 24,
40; para. 58-60, 66, 96, 99; ACJPS, Sudan: The continued targeting of Internally Displaced Persons in Darfur
Region, 24 December 2023, url, pp. 1-2; Ayin network, Ardamata: One of the deadliest attack yet, 23 November
2023, url;
213
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, pp. 1, 4-5
214IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, pp. 4-5
207

208

36

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Libya

4965

Sudanese Nationals

Non-Sudanese Nationals
Central African Republic

21665

Ethiopia

46492

Egypt

398400South Sudan

103018Chad5391740

100000200000300000400000500000600000700000800000Figure 5. Sudanese nationals and non-nationals displaced by the 2023-2024 conflicts into neighbouring
countries. EUAA elaboration based on IOM DTM DATA 215

Within this context, data for Libya are particularly contested. At the beginning of February
2024, UNHCR indicated that it had registered 12 090 Sudanese ‘citing their arrival in Libya to
be on or after 15 April 2023’.216 Still UNHCR quoted the Sudanese General Consul in Libya
stating, on 1 February 2024, that the number of Sudanese refugees post April 2023 werearound 200 000 individuals, with 250-300 new arrivals a day.217 According to a Sudanesecommunity leader based in Kufra - the main crossing point district into Libya from Sudan,218 theSudanese who resided in Kufra town before the war were hosting between two and threefamilies each at the beginning of February 2024, while the Libyan National Army (LNA) was
reportedly providing humanitarian aid to 10 000 Sudanese refugees.219 The Libyan ‘head of
the program to reduce illegal immigration and aid returning Sudanese communities in Libya’
was quoted by Sudan Tribune estimating that over 400 000 refugees were in Kufra district asof February 2024, while reporting that the Libyan Organization to combat illegal immigration(OCII) believed that the actual number could be double that.220 On this point Tubiana
maintained that ‘many more than the few thousands quoted [had] entered Libya’, but that hedid not ‘see reliable figures anywhere’.221 Prior to the 15 April 2023 conflict, as of February
2023, the Sudanese population in Libya was 133 979, accounting for 19 % of the total
immigrant population in the country, including 21 684 refugees registered with UNHCR.222

IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, pp. 1, 4-5
UNHCR, Sudan Situation Update, 13 February 2024, n.a., p. 1
217
UNHCR, Sudan Situation Update, 13 February 2024, n.a., p. 3
218
IOM, Profile of Sudanese Migrants in Libya, May 2023, url, p. 3
219
Radio Dabanga, ‘Miserable conditions’ for Sudanese in Libya, 16 February 2024, url
220
Sudan Tribune, Surge of Sudanese refugees in Libya raises concerns of sea migration, 18 February 2024, url
221
Tubiana, J., email exchange, 19 March 2024
222
IOM, Profile of Sudanese Migrants in Libya, May 2023, url, p. 1
215

216

37

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM(b)Food and water insecurity

As of January 2024, about 17.7 million people across Sudan, corresponding to about 37 % of
the population, were experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity. Of these, about 4.9
million people – or 10 % of the entire population – were experiencing an ‘emergency’situation.223
As detailed by FEWS NET at the beginning of February 2024, the opening of a new military
front in the south-east of the country, which constitutes Sudan’s breadbasket, further
disrupted trade and agricultural activities, ‘posing a significant threat to national foodavailability’.224
At the end of January 2024, according to FEWS NET, acute food insecurity outcomes werewidespread across the country, ‘emergency’ outcomes existed in heavily impacted urban
areas, including in parts of Khartoum and West Darfur, while households were expected todeteriorate to ‘catastrophe’ outcomes in Omdurman of Khartoum and El Geneina of West
Darfur in the upcoming lean season, which was expected to begin as early as March 2024.225
Similarly, according to WFP mapping, at the end of January 2024, the prevalence of‘insufficient food consumption ranged between ‘moderately high’ – in Northern, Nile, and Al
Jazirah states – and ‘very high’ in Darfur (with the exception of Eastern Darfur), while it was‘high’ in all other states.226 As reported by UNOCHA, Darfur ‘has the highest ratio of people
with insufficient food consumption’, with more than 40 % of their respective state populations
affected in four of five states.227
At the beginning of February 2024, a nutrition and mortality assessment carried out by MSF
revealed that the situation in Zamzam IDP camp in North Darfur was ‘catastrophic’. According
to their estimates at least one child was dying every two hours in the camp, while ‘“those withsevere malnutrition who have not yet died are at high risk of dying within three to six weeks if
they do not get treatment”’.228 Zamzam IDP camp is located about 14 kilometres south of El
Fasher town, in North Darfur. Based on a camp overview from the end of 2022, it sheltered
more than 450 000 individuals at the time,229 as also confirmed by Eric Reeves.230 However,
Reeves indicated that ‘there are many new arrivals, with many not able to enter the campproperly but living on the outskirts, the number could be much higher’,231 as also suggested byRadio Tamazuj, which indicated that many found shelter in the Zamzam Secondary Schools.232

UNOCHA, Sudan Situation Report, 4 February 2024, url, p. 3
FEWS NET, Sudan Food Security Alert: Clashes in Sudan’s breadbasket threaten national food availability, 1
February 2024, url, p. 1
225
FEWS NET, Sudan Food Security Alert: Clashes in Sudan’s breadbasket threaten national food availability, 1
February 2024, url, pp. 1-2
226
WFP, HungerMap, 2024, url
227
UNOCHA, Sudan Humanitarian Update, 4 February 2024, url, p. 2
228
MSF, Urgent response needed amid high death rates and malnutrition crisis in North Darfur, 5 February 2024,
url
229
NRC, Zamzam Camp Profile - Al Fasher, North Darfur State, October 2022, url
230
Reeves, E., email exchange, 19 January 2024
231
Reeves, E., email exchange, 19 January 2024
232
Radio Tamazuj, North Darfur: Displaced persons in Zamzam camp face hunger crisis, 19 February 2024, url
223

224

38

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Within this context, water insecurity was also an issue of concern at the end of the reference
period. ‘Since this is the dry season, which coincides with the food security “lean season”,
clean water is increasingly needed, in too many places desperately needed’ stated Reeves in
mid-January 2024.233 As indicated in the Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024, Water
Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) coverage in Sudan was insufficient already before theoutbreak of the war in April 2023. The on-going hostilities further exacerbated a ‘critical’situation by causing the ‘destruction of infrastructure, disruptions in the WASH supply chain,and collapse of the revenue system’.234
As of January 2024, the provision of safe drinking water, water chlorination and water quality
campaigns were ongoing in Gedaref, Al Jazirah, White Nile, Kassala, Red Sea, Sennar, andBlue Nile states. This assistance comprised the chlorination of over 3 000 water supply
sources and hand-dug wells (HDW), including water storages and distribution points (donkey
carts, water tankers), with over 2.5 million people reached.235 No information about similar
activities carried out in western Sudan during the reference period of the report could befound within the time limits of the research.
(c)

Access to healthcare and medical supplies

At the beginning of February 2024, as reported by UNOCHA, about 65 % of the Sudanese
population lacked access to healthcare,236 while between 70 and 80 % of hospitals in conflictaffected areas were no longer functional.237 As reported by Insecurity Insight, based on
agency and open-source data, in the reference period a total of 268 incidents of violence orthreat of violence against the healthcare sector in Sudan were reported, including 67 healthfacilities damaged.238
This, coupled with the inability to access pharmaceutical supplies had left hundreds ofthousands of patients vulnerable to further harm, including the outbreak of diseases such as
cholera, dengue fever, malaria and measles, which were under control before the eruption of
the conflict in 2023.239 As of 31 January 2024, according to the Sudan Federal Ministry of
Health and the WHO, there had been 10 495 cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD or
Cholera) and 292 associated deaths, reported from 60 localities across 11 states.240
Already in June 2023 the Sudan Federal Ministry of Health stressed the pressing needs for awide range of medical supplies, which included: medicines for patients with tumours, cancers,
and other life-threatening conditions; emergency medicines and anaesthetics/pain killers;
medications for heart disease, digestive system diseases, surgeries, organ transplants, bloodtransfusions, dialysis, and laboratory equipment.241 In August 2023, a group of scholars fromthe Faculty of Medicine of the University of Khartoum, warned about the additional strain that
Reeves, E., email exchange, 14 January 2024
UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan Sudan, 21 December 2023, url, pp. 46-47
235
UNOCHA, Sudan Situation Report, 4 February 2024, url, pp. 6-7
236
UNOCHA, Sudan Situation Report, 4 February 2024, url, p. 3
237
UNOCHA, Sudan Situation Report, 4 February 2024, url, p. 3; International Medical Corps, Situation Report no.
15, 1 February 2024, url, p. 1
238
Insecurity Insight, Attacked and Threatened: Health Care at Risk, 31 January 2024, url
239International Medical Corps, Situation Report no. 15, 1 February 2024, url, p. 1
240
WHO, Sudan Outbreaks Dashboard, 31 January 2024, url
241Radio Dabanga, Sudan faces acute medical supply shortage, 7 June 2023, url
233

234

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

the conflict posed on Sudan’s already ‘weak’ health-sector. Power outages put in jeopardy the
40 million supplies of vaccination and insulin stocks, while patients with chronic conditions
struggled to receive their prescriptions.242 MSF, with operations in 12 areas in Sudan, including
in Khartoum, Al Jazirah and Darfur states,243 was quoted by Sudan Tribune in October 2023
stating that Sudan suffered from a ‘severe shortages of medicines’, with those available
having become disproportionately expensive, hence leaving many Sudanese with chronic
conditions incapable of affording them.244
As of 31 January 2024, according to the Sudan Health Cluster (led by the WHO), the numberof people who benefitted from medicine and medical kits in partner-supported health facilities
across Sudan numbered 114 807 out of 180 082 outpatient consultations performed. These
took place in 24 covered localities out of 189. Most beneficiaries were concentrated in North
Darfur and Blue Nile. However, no consulted outpatients could benefit from medicines inCentral Darfur, West Darfur, Al Jazirah, and Gedaref. In Khartoum and South Kordofan
respectively 1 589 and 1 628 outpatients could benefit from medications. In the previous
months the number of medicines beneficiaries had been 327 635 in October 2023, 161 200 in
November 2023, 271 531 in December 2023.245
Following the collapse of the state healthcare system, and in the ‘vacuum left behind wheninternational humanitarian organizations left’, teams of volunteer medical staff, engineers andother emergency experts across the country started addressing part of the unmet civilian
needs. They organised in so-called Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) or just ‘emergency
rooms’, which can be described as community-led initiatives assisting vulnerable civilians withdifferent types of humanitarian and healthcare services.246 However, as reported by
Humanitarian Outcomes at the end of December 2023, these voluntary, grassroots efforts
were ‘overstretched, increasingly exhausted, and lack[ed] resources’, while they could not
replace the large-scale level of assistance that was needed.247(d)

Aid delivery and humanitarian accessAs of 31 January 2024, UNOCHA reported that there were 58 organisations with operationalpresence in Sudan, with the following breakdown: 27 international non-governmentalorganisations (INGO), 22 national non-governmental organisations (NNGO), six UN agencies,
two government agencies, and the Red Cross.248 In the previous reporting period, as of 31

Hemmeda, L., et al, Sudan's armed rivalry: a comment on the vulnerable healthcare system catastrophe, 22
August 2023, url
243
MSF, Conflict in Sudan, 9 February 2024, url
244
Sudan Tribune, Remove obstacles on delivery of medical supplies in Sudan: MSF, 12 October 2023, url
245
WHO, Health Cluster Sudan, Medicine and Medical Supplies Services as of 31 January 2024, 18 February 2024,
url
246
UN News, Youth-led ‘emergency rooms’ shine rays of hope in war-torn Sudan, 3 February 2024, url; Al Jazeera,
Sudan's healthcare in crisis with hospitals out of service and volunteers stepping in, 30 January 2024, url;
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, pp. 3, 7; UNSG,
Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the
Sudan, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 40; The New Humanitarian, ‘I see it as my duty to help for as long as
I can': Sudanese volunteers on supporting hospitals and opposing the war, 2 June 2023, url
247
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, p. 3
248
UNOCHA, Sudan Operational Presence (3W) – Post 15 April as of 31 January 2024, 27 February 2024, url
242

40

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

December 2023, there were 167 organisations, of which 91 NNGO, 58 INGO, 11 UN agencies,
six government agencies, and the Red Cross.249
As noted by Humanitarian Outcomes, operational presence did not correspond to actual
physical presence. These figures included both the lead agencies and the implementing
partners, regardless of actual physical presence.250 Most international aid organisations
choose to suspend their activities and evacuate their international staff in the immediate
aftermath of the outbreak of the hostilities.251
Based on Humanitarian Outcomes’ survey on the ‘Coverage, Operational Reach, andEffectiveness of Humanitarian Aid’, which was carried out in November 2023, aid reachedonly 16 % of people in need. Of this aid, humanitarian actors accounted for as follows: 26 % by
the combined UN agencies, notably WFP, UNICEF and IOM; 24 % by local authorities; 16 % the
Sudanese Red Crescent; 12 % INGOs, notably MSF, Plan International, and NRC.252
The vast majority of aid came in the form of food assistance – mentioned in 116 cases out of
838 surveyed people – followed by medical assistance, which was reported 13 times.253
Khartoum, Kordofan and Darfur states, where most of the active fighting had taken place, were
the states with ‘highly constrained’ access to aid assistance,254 as also reported by
UNITAMS.255 In particular, since November 2023, the situation in Darfur had been aggravatedby the cessation of humanitarian and commercial convoys arriving from Wad Madani and Port
Sudan under the protection of the Darfur Joint Forces.256
Against this general backdrop, the main constraints to the humanitarian response wherewidespread insecurity, bureaucratic hurdles, logistics and infrastructures issues, limited
humanitarian presence, failure to agree and coordinate unfettered humanitarian access withthe warring parties.257 At the end of January 2024, the ETC reported the still unmet need torebuild the communication infrastructure and to enhance common humanitarian information
so as to enable a rapid and coordinated response to the humanitarian crisis.258
As war progressed, sources agree that the blocking of humanitarian aid by the warring parties
had become a ‘weapon of war’.259 As of mid-January 2024, UN and other aid agencies were
struggling to access most of the country. Ever since they had lost access to Wad Madani, in

UNOCHA, Sudan Operational Presence (3W) – Post 15 April as of 31 December 2023, 26 January 2024, url
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, p. 12, and footnote
no. 22
251
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, p. 5
252
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, p. 13
253
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, pp. 13-14
254
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, p. 4
255
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url, para. 40
256Radio Tamazuj, Halting of humanitarian convoys aggravates suffering of IDPs in El Fasher, 19 February 2024, url
257
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, pp. 10-15
258
ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #14, 31 January 2024, url, p. 2; see also ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation
Report #13, 31 December 2023, url, p. 2
259
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, p. 17; Radio
Dabanga, Sudanese legal expert: hindering access to aid is crime against humanity, 19 February 2024, url;
Hoffmann, A., From Catastrophe to Famine - Immediate action needed in Sudan to contain mass starvation,
February 2024, url, p. 4-5, 8
249

250

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

December 2023, following its seizure by the RSF, their operational activities were restricted
out of Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, and on delivering aid from Chad into the westernregion of Darfur.260 In January 2024, aid agencies were trying to establish cross-border
operations from South Sudan into the southern parts of the Kordofan states.261 Later in January
and February 2024, Sudan authorities loyal to the SAF held up aid into Sudan, both from Port
Sudan,262 and at the border with Chad, while prohibiting entry into ‘stricken Darfur’ andobstructing assistance ‘from reaching communities in areas controlled by the RSF’.263
At the beginning of February 2024, the WFP country director for Sudan stated that they coulddeliver aid to just one in ten people in the conflict areas - which included Khartoum, Darfur andAl Jazirah state – mentioning lack of security guarantees and bureaucratic hurdles to getclearances.264
Recurring internet and communication blackouts also affected the delivery of humanitarianassistance operations,265 with the situation further exacerbated by the almost nation-wide
blackout that started at the beginning of February 2024.266 This made operating impossible forhumanitarian groups without ‘satellite equipment’. It also prevented individuals from accessing
mobile cash-transfer applications,267 or civilian groups and emergency rooms from relying on
on-line tools for donations, banking and coordination purposes.268 Such tools had proved to
be a lifeline resource for many following the outbreak of the hostilities in April 2023.269 Within
this context, in February 2024, Khartoum North Emergency Room announced the suspensionof all community kitchens operating in the city despite multiple deaths in Khartoum state due
to hunger in the previous few weeks.270(e)Road security

Border areas
According to the UN Panel of Experts, the Darfur – CAR border area had been under RSF
control since May 2023, when the RSF captured Am Dafok, the main border post with CAR.271
In the aftermath of the outbreak of the hostilities, the Chadian authorities closed the long
border with Sudan, and reinforced their military presence in the areas, with the Chadian

Reuters, Agencies consider new aid route into Sudan as humanitarian crisis worsens, 15 January 2024, urlReuters, Agencies consider new aid route into Sudan as humanitarian crisis worsens, 15 January 2024, url
262
Arab News, US deplores holdups on aid into Sudan, 1 February 2024, url
263
Arab News, Sudan authorities block cross-border aid to stricken Darfur, 26 February 2024, url
264
Al Jazeera, People ‘dying of starvation’ in Sudan, UN food agency says, 2 February 2024, url
265
ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #14, 31 January 2024, url, p. 2; ETC, Sudan conflict, Situation Report #13, 31
December 2023, url, p. 2
266
Al Jazeera, Network blackout cuts communications for millions in war-torn Sudan, 7 March 2024, url; Sudan
Tribune, Internet outage halts food aid, leading to deaths in Khartoum, 20 February 2024, url; Reuters, Sudaneseleft in the dark by RSF-imposed telecoms blackout, 12 February 2024, url; see also Radio Dabanga, Phone, internet
falters in eastern Sudan, 4 February 2024, url
267
The Guardian, Inside the Darfur camp where a child dies every two hours, 21 February 2024, url
268
Sudan Tribune, Internet outage halts food aid, leading to deaths in Khartoum, 20 February 2024, url
269
Shahad, [@justhayxo, X], posted on 29 February 2024, url; Munchkin, [@BSonblast, X], posted on 26 February
2024, url; Hala Y Alkarib [@Halayalkarib], posted on 18 February 2024, url; Elbagir, Y., [@YousraElbagir, X], posted 8
February 2024, url; Hassab, A., [@errfnern, X], posted on 7 February 2024, url;
270
Radio Dabanga, Food kitchens halt in Khartoum North as people die of hunger, 20 February 2024, url
271
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 143-145
260
261

42

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

contingent of the joint Chad-Sudan border patrol force272 deployed along the ‘line of Tine Karjari - Tisi-Adde’.273 Concerning the Sudan – Libya border, Haftar’s Libya National Army
(LNA) declared its closure on 25 April 2023 and deployed reinforcements.274
However, all this notwithstanding, for military equipment and fuel the RSF could rely on threemain supply routes, respectively through Eastern Chad, Libya and South Sudan.275 More indetail: from Eastern Chad through Bao or Kariari and then Zuruk, Um Baru locality in North
Darfur;276 from southern Libya, and with the complicity of the LNA, through the Libya - Chad –Sudan tri-border area, often through Amdjarass;277 from South Sudan, from Juba to Wau, andthen to RSF controlled areas in South Darfur through Kafia-Kingi.278
Internal routes
In Darfur, several checkpoints and roadblocks were set up on key trade routes, such as theone from El Fasher, in North Darfur, to El Obeid, in North Kordofan, and from Am Dafok to
Nyala in South Darfur, where fees were imposed for the safe passage of goods.279 In July
2023, Arab militias established checkpoints along the road between the Chad border andMurnei, which resulted in the restriction of the movement of civilians.280 In July 2023, the RSF
imposed protection ‘fees’ on the civilian population on the Kutum-El Fasher road.281 In August
2023, the taking of Mekkah bridge by the RSF and allied militias blocked the road between
Nyala and Buram.282 In September 2023, when fighting resumed in IDPs camps near El Fasher,toll gates on the road to the city were set up by local militias.283 Roads linking North and West
Kordofan with Darfur were secured by the Darfur Joint Force,284 until they stopped securing
humanitarian convoys from Port Sudan to El Fasher, in February 2024 according to Radio
Dabanga,285 or actually earlier, at the end of November 2023, according to Sudan expert
Reeves.286
In Khartoum, as of September 2023, fighting centred around key strategic transport routes,
notably the Shambat bridge, a key passage for the RSF to move troops and equipment acrossthe river Nile from Omdurman to Khartoum city via Bahri.287 The bridge was then destroyed in
November 2023, with the RSF switching to the Jebel Awlia dam bridge as an alternative,

Sudan Tribune, Sudan, Chad agree to strengthening operations of joint border force, 29 January 2023, url
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 139-140
274
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 146
275
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, pp. 2-3; para. 38-49
276
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 41-42
277
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 44-47
278
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 48
279
UN Security Council, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 122, 145
280
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: The SAF Faces Setbacks as Armed Groups Overtake Territory Across theCountry, 21 July 2023, url;
281
Radio Dabanga, Kidnapping and protection rackets rife in North Darfur, 05 July 2023, url
282
ACLED, Situation Update, Sudan: deadly reciprocal offensives for strategic locations in Khartoum and Darfur, 8September 2023, url
283
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Ethnic Strife Amid Escalating Power Struggles, 6 October 2023, url
284
Radio Dabanga, Rebel forces arrive in South Darfur to protect people trapped in Nyala, 29 August 2023, url
285Radio Dabanga, Darfur Joint Forces cease aid deliveries amidst ‘healthcare collapse’ warnings, 28 February
2024, url
286
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
287
Insecurity Insight, Sudan Situation Report Analysis, September 2023, url
272
273

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

although longer, route.288 Already in September 2023, SAF officials were allegedly charging
for the transit of goods to areas controlled by the RSF in Omdurman.289 As of January 2024,with the RSF still controlling most of Khartoum state, despite recent SAF territorial gains in
Omdurman,290 hundreds of checkpoints had been set up in the capital. This had led to a
general state of fear preventing people from leaving their houses. Moreover, the RSF had‘banned civilians from driving vehicles, forcing them to walk or rely on donkey carts totransport daily needs’.291
In Al Jazirah, following the capture of Wad Madani and most of the regional state, the RSF set
up several checkpoints that prevented civilians from fleeing.292 In January, roads to villages
located east of Al Jazirah, including Sharg Al Neel in Khartoum State, had been cut off.293
In the Kordofans, during the first months of the conflict, the SAF and the RSF attempted tocontrol key roads connecting Omdurman to the Kordofans - notably the Bara-Omdurman roadlinking North Kordofan to Khartoum – as well as North Kordofan to White Nile state, throughthe El Obeid-Kosti road.294 A source quoted by Radio Dabanga in August 2023 indicated that‘most roads between White Nile state and El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan, and El Fula,
capital of West Kordofan [were] secured by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF)’ and that ‘the fees
for security convoys for lorries and vehicles [were] very high, ranging between one and two
million pounds, which double[ed] the price of goods’. On 22 July 2023, members of the
Kababish militia and RSF soldiers clashed in Rehid al-Nuba town and in the areas situatedalong the road between Omdurman and Bara in North Kordofan. Hostilities between Kababish
militia and the RSF, after having broken out in North Kordofan,295 expanded to South Kordofan
throughout September 2023, with the SPLM-N-al-Hilu still maintaining a blockade of the
Kadugli-Dilling road.296
Circulation on main routes
Against the above general backdrop, FEWS NET reported at the end of January 2024 that,while food availability was impacted by loss of stocks and dysfunctional markets, it was further
exacerbated by the ‘disruption of trade and humanitarian aid flows particularly from typicallysurplus-producing to deficit-producing areas’.297 As shown on the map below by FEWS NET,
activities on almost the totality of main roads linking Port Sudan to Khartoum, and theSudan War Monitor, Sudan army close to breaking Omdurman siege, 4 February 2024, url
Darfur 24, Emergency lawyers accuse army of restricting Residents’ movement in Omdurman, 30 September
2023, url
290
Sudan War Monitor, Sudan army close to breaking Omdurman siege, 4 February 2024, url
291
Nashed, M., ‘Can’t trust the Janjaweed’: Sudan’s capital ravaged by RSF rule, 20 January 2024, url
292
Nashed, M., ‘No way to leave’: Sudan paramilitary traps civilians in breadbasket state, 29 December 2023, url
293
UNOCHA, SUDAN: Clashes in Wad Medani between the SAF and RSF Flash Update No: 6 (as of 8 January2024), url
294
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Heightened Violence in Kordofan Region as More Militia Groups Step Into theConflict, 11 August 2023, url
295Radio Dabanga, RSF and Kababish clash in North Kordofan, 24 July 2023, url
296
Ayin network, Sudan Conflict Monitor – 4 September 2023, url
297
FEWS NET, Sudan Food Security Alert: Clashes in Sudan’s breadbasket threaten national food availability, 1
February 2024, url, p. 2
288

289

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

breadbasket area - Al Jazirah, Sennar, Gedaref - to the Kordofans and then Darfur, were either‘significantly disrupted, limited’ or with ‘minimal, no activity’.298
Within this context, the main routes to ‘Greater Darfur’ and ‘Greater Kordofan’, and more
specifically the western route - Wad Madani-Kosti-El Obeid-El Fasher, and the southwesternroute El Obeid-Dilling-Kadugli – had been significantly affected by rising levels of insecurity
and the multiplication of checkpoints. Routes in the east, connecting Port Sudan, Gedaref, andSennar, while remaining under SAF control, were also further disrupted as a consequence of
the attack on Al Jazirah. Activity along these roads was ‘limited by the increased number of
SAF checkpoints and delayed approvals for convoy movements’.299
Completing this picture, FEWS NET reported, at the end of December 2023, that in central,eastern and western Sudan ‘some alternative unpaved routes started to be increasingly used,instead of the tarmac roads, in order to avoid RSF checkpoints’. In particular, this was the casefor the road linking Darfur with the Northern state through the Al Malha Al Daba route and theroad linking Khartoum to central and eastern Sudan via the Al Butana route.300

EUAA analysis based on FEWS NET, Markets and trade route activity map, cropland, and violent events,
December-January 2024, 1 February 2024
299
FEWS NET, Sudan Food Security Alert: Clashes in Sudan’s breadbasket threaten national food availability, 1
February 2024, url, p. 2
300
FEWS NET, Sudan - Food Security Outlook Update, December 2023, url, p. 6
298

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

1.1.6.

Map on route activity as of December-January 2024

Map 3. Markets and trade route activity map, cropland, and violent events, December-January 2024.301 Source:
FEWS NET using data from USGS and ACLEDFEWS NET, Sudan Food Security Alert: Clashes in Sudan’s breadbasket threaten national food availability, 1
February 2024, url, p. 1
301

46

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

1.2.

Security situation in selected regions

1.2.1.

Darfur(a)

Background

Darfur is the westernmost region of Sudan extending for an area the size of Spain.302 It
borders Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan.303 The region
boasts a landscape characterised by a semiarid plateau featuring the prominent Jebel Marra
mountains.304 Darfur’s overall population is contested, with estimates ranging between 6
million305 and 9.5 million people.306 Sudan expert Reeves leans towards the more conservative
estimates, between 6 and 6.5 million people.307 Between thirty and ninety ethnic groups ortribes, depending on their definition, inhabit the area, with ways of life that can be nomadic,
semi-nomadic, and sedentary.308 For more details see section 2.4 Non-Arabs/Africans in
Darfur.
Darfur is divided into five states: North Darfur, South Darfur, West Darfur, East Darfur andCentral Darfur. North Darfur occupies more than half of the Darfur territory.309 Located in thenorthwest of Sudan, it borders Chad and Libya, as well as the states of Central, East, Southand West Darfur, North and West Kordofan and Northern State. The state includes parts of themountainous Jebel Marra region to the south and El Fasher is its capital.310 South Darfur, with
Nyala as its capital, is in the southwest of Sudan and borders North, Central and East Darfur
states, as well as South Sudan and the CAR.311 West Darfur borders Chad, with Beida, El
Geneina – the state capital - and Kereneik the most populated localities.312 The main ethnic
groups are the Rizeigat and the Masalit.313 East Darfur borders South Darfur, North Darfur,
West Kordofan, the Abyei Area and shares an international border with South Sudan. Its state
capital is El Daein.314 Sixteen per cent of the state’s population are Arab nomads and thelargest tribe in the area are the Southern Rizeigat.315 The main livelihood activities include
agriculture, livestock rearing and trading.316 Central Darfur is situated in the southwest of
Sudan bordering North, West and South Darfur and sharing borders with Chad and the CAR.
The state capital is Zalingei. The Fur are the predominant tribe.317

Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
UNSC, Report of the Secretary-General on the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur,
S/2011/244, 14 April 2011, url, para. 6304
Africapolis, Sudan, accessed on 9 February 2024, url
305
Yifei, G., A Study of Tribal Composition and Conflict in Darfur, 2020, url, p. 236
306
de Waal, A., The Conflict in Darfur, Sudan: Background and Overview, February 2022, url, para. 6307
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
308
de Waal, A., The Conflict in Darfur, Sudan: Background and Overview, February 2022, url, para. 37-42
309
UNICEF, State profile North Darfur, url
310
UNICEF, State profile North Darfur, url
311
UNOCHA, Sudan: South Darfur State Profile (Updated March 2022), March 2022, url
312
UN Sudan, West Darfur Peacebuilding Assessment, June 2021, url
313
UN Sudan West Darfur Peacebuilding Assessment, June 2021, url
314
UNOCHA, OCHA Sudan: East Darfur State Profile (March 2023), 29 March 2023, url
315
UNICEF, State profile East Darfur, url
316
UNOCHA, OCHA Sudan: East Darfur State Profile (March 2023), 29 March 2023, url
317
UNICEF, State profile Central Darfur, url
302
303

47

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM(b)

Armed actors

The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) or Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM) is a Darfur-based
rebel group officially established in 2003, largely consisting of people from the Fur, Zaghawa
and Masalit tribes. In 2005, the SLM split into factions under the lead of its founding leaders:••••

SLM-AW, a mostly Fur faction, under the leadership of Abdel Wahid al Nur, controllingparts of the Jebel Marra Mountain range.318
SLM-MM, a group under the leadership of Minni Minnawi mostly supported by the
Zaghawa tribe.319 Minni Minnawi was appointed Governor of the Greater Darfur in 2021.320
SLM-Transitional Council (TC) led by Al-Hadi Idris.321
SLM-Tambour, led by Mustafa Tambour, separated from the SLM-AW in 2018.322

The SLM-AW, unlike the SLM-MM and SLM-Tambour, did not participate in negotiations anddid not sign the JPA in 2020.323 While the SLM-AW and SLM-MM adopted a position ofneutrality in the conflict until November 2023, when the SLM-MM allied with the SAF against
the RSF, the SLM-Tambour supported the SAF from the beginning of the conflict.324
The Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) is an Islamist rebel group established in 2003. Mostof its leaders and membership initially came from the Kobe, a Zaghawa sub-group.325 The
group was close to Islamist ideologue Hassan al-Turabi.326 According to the UN Panels ofExperts, the group split into two new groups in August 2023 after the suspension of several
key leaders for engaging in a meeting with General Dagalo in July.327
The Sudanese Alliance (SA) is a group led by West Darfur Governor Khamis Abdallah Abkar.328
The Governor was killed in June 2023 after he accused the RSF and Arab armed militia ofkilling civilians in El Geneina and called for international protection.329
The Gathering of the Sudan Liberation Forces (GSLF) was established in July 2017 after themerger of three Darfur armed factions based in Libya at the time, including the Sudan
Liberation Movement for Justice of Tahir Hajar, Sudan Liberation Movement-Unity (SLM-Unity)of Abdallah Yahia and the JEM faction led by Abdallah Bashr Gali (aka Gena). While the
Chairman, Tahir Hajar, reiterated the neutrality of group in November 2023, the faction led by
GLSF Deputy Charmain Abdallah Yaha declared its support to the SAF.330

PolGeoNow, Sudan War Control Map & Timeline - October 2023, url
MRG, Fur in South Sudan, June 2018, url
320
Sudan War Monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, 2 November 2023, url
321Radio Tamazuj, Darfur armed movements join army to fight RSF, 19 November 2023, url
322
Sudan Tribune, SLM faction joins Sudanese army against RSF in Darfur, 31 July 2023, url
323
IDEA, The Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan, 2021, url, p.12
324
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 7 - 8
325
Small Arms Survey, Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), August 2013, url
326
Sudan Tribune, Rebel groups in Sudan’s Darfur, 18 December 2023, url; FP, The Islamist Behind Sudan’s Throne,
8 March 2016, url
327
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 9328
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 7329
Sudan Tribune, Governor of West Darfur state assassinated after calling for international protection, 14 June
2023, url
330
Sudan Tribune, Another Darfur faction joins Sudanese army in fight against RSF, 20 November 2023, url
318

319

48

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

The Gathering of the Sudanese Justice and Equality Forces (GSJEF) is a Darfurian armed
group based in Libya and led by Abdallah Banda331 supporting the SAF since November
2023.332
The Third Front known as Tamazuj is an armed group led by Mohammed Ali Qureshi as wingof the SPLM.333 It was a signatory of the JPA agreement in 2020 with forces across the Darfur
and the Kordofans border regions. It pledged its support to the RSF on 17 August 2023.334
On 27 April 2023, JPA-signatory groups in Darfur formed an alliance called the Joint Struggle
Armed Movement Forces (JSAMF) also known as Darfur Joint Forces or Joint Forces.335
According to sources, the alliance declared its neutrality and aimed at ensuring the protectionof civilians in Darfur by ‘protecting markets and escorting humanitarian and commercial
convoys’.336 According to ACLED, in some instances these forces transitioned from escorting
duties to actively engage in military operations.337 By November 2023, the JEM and the SLMMM announced the end of the neutrality and confirmed their support to SAF in operations toprotect civilians in Darfur. While they did not explicitly state the intention to engage in active
combat, the JEM and the SLM-MM initiated troop deployment in North Darfur in December
2023.338 In January 2024, SLM-TC leader Al-Hadi Idris reaffirmed the neutrality if the allianceand its commitment to non-participation in the fighting.339(c)Main conflict dynamics and territorial control

In the reporting period, in Greater Darfur, the main warring parties competed taking control ofstrategic military bases and territories, with reported use of aerial bombing and heavy shellingby both the SAF and the RSF.340 Notable areas of conflict in the first months of the conflict
included SAF headquarters in all capitals of the Darfur’s states,341 Kutum, Kassab IDP camp,342
and Kabkabiya in North Darfur; El Geneina, Sirba, Murnei and Masteri in West Darfur;343 Umm
Dukhun in Central Darfur.344
In South Darfur, Nyala, the state capital, and its surrounding areas experienced intense
confrontations, with the fight for the takeover of the city causing damages to markets andneighbourhoods due to intense bombing and shelling. The RSF took control of the capital on

UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 12
Sudan Tribune, Another Darfur faction joins Sudanese army in fight against RSF, 20 November 2023, url
333
IDEA, The Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan, 2021, url
334
Sudan Tribune, Tamazuj group aligns with RSF in Sudan’s ongoing war, 17 August 2023, url
335
Insecurity Insight, Sudan Situation Report Analysis, September 2023, url, p.4; Sudan Tribune, Minnawi warns
against plans to attack Darfur joint force, 9 September 2023, url
336
Sudan Tribune, Minnawi warns against plans to attack Darfur joint force, 9 September 2023, url
337
ACLED, Situation Update – Sudan: Ethnic Strife Amid Escalating Power Struggles, 6 October 2023, url
338
Sudan Tribune, Darfur Joint Force deploys more troops to protect civilians, 2 December 2023, url
339
Sudan Tribune, Al-Hadi Idris reiterates neutrality and unity of Darfur joint forces, 8 January 2024, url
340
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, p. 2
341
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 4
342
MEE, Sudan: Dozens killed as RSF attacks North Darfur’s Kutum, 5 June 2023, url
343
The Guardian, Civilians attacked in Darfur region as Sudan fighting escalates, 30 April 2023, url; UNSC, Finalreport of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 4344
ACLED, Situation Update – Sudan: Fighting Rages Amid Ceasefire Talks, 26 May 2023, url
331

332

49

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

26 October 2023,345 as well as key border cities such as Um Dafog, a town on the border with
CAR, strategic for the region’s supply chain.346
In Central Darfur, the RSF claimed control of the capital Zalingei by the end of October 2023.
Security concerns extended to the Jebel Marra area.347 Fighting between the main warring
parties lasted for two months with intense shelling on IDP camps in the outskirts of the town
and a blockade of supplies for several weeks.348
In West Darfur, both prominent political figures and humanitarian staff were impacted by theviolence, such as the Masalit Wali of West Darfur and leader of the SA, Khamis Abdullah
Abbaker, as well as WFP national staff members.349 For more information on political
opponents and humanitarian personnel see 2.2 Humanitarian and health personnel and 2.3
Political opponents. Violence in the state has escalated over the first months with El
Geneina350 witnessing intense fighting that resulted in significant casualties and injured
civilians being displaced to neighbouring areas and to Chad.351 In June 2023, the RSF took
over the capital, after more than 50 days of sustained attacks.352 Violence exacerbated once
again towards the end of the year with the RSF’s takeover of the SAF’s Division in Ardamata,on the outskirts of El Geneina, on 4 November 2023.353 As reported by the OHCHR, violence
escalated further with reports of mass killing targeting non-Arabs communities, in particular
the Masalit, which have occurred since the early stages of the conflict.354 The victims werereportedly killed by the RSF and allied militias during the violence in the area in June. 355 For
more information on ethnic motivated killings see section 2.4 Non-Arabs/Africans in Darfur,
notably 2.4.2 Targeting.
In East Darfur, the RSF took control of El Daein, the state capital, and Zarga Um Hadid andShag Omar oilfields by mid-November 2023.356 Since the beginning of the conflict, El Daein
has remained unaffected by major incidents due to the intervention of community leaders thatmediated with the warring parties ensuring a commitment of non-aggression. A plan was

Ayin network, Sudan Conflict monitor, 31 October 2023, urlBBC, Sudan conflict: RSF takes control of Nyala in Darfur, 26 October 2023, url; Sudan War Monitor, RSF takecontrol of army garrison at Um Dafog, 13 June 2023, url
347
IOM, DTM Sudan Flash Alert: Gharb Jabal Marrah (Nertiti Town), Central Darfur, 13 November 2023, url
348
Ayin network, Sudan Conflict Monitor, 31 October 2023, url
349
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 20, 23
350
ACLED, Situation Update – Sudan: Conflict Intensifies Following the Breakdown of Jeddah Talks, 23 June 2023,
url
351
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 20
352
Reuters, How Arab fighters carried out a rolling ethnic massacre in Sudan, 22 September 2023, url
353
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 69
354
OHCHR, Comment by UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, raising alarm on killings of people
fleeing El Geneina in West Darfur, Sudan, 24 June 2023, url; The New Humanitarian, ‘Every checkpoint could be
your last’: The perilous road to safety for Darfuri refugees, 15 August 2023, url
355
OHCHR, Sudan: At least 87 buried in mass grave in Darfur as Rapid Support Forces deny victims decent burials,
13 July 2023, url; ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: The SAF Faces Setbacks as Armed Groups Overtake Territory
Across the Country, 21 July 2023, url; Reuters, At least 87 buried in Sudan mass grave, including women, children,
UN says, 13 July 2023, url;
356
Radio Dabanga, RSF secures oilfield in East Darfur, 7 November 2023, url
345

346

50

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

negotiated for peaceful withdrawal of the SAF from the town without confrontation with theadvancing RSF forces.357
In North Darfur, stronghold of the Darfurian JPA-signatory groups, a ceasefire was negotiatedin April 2023, dividing the control of El Fasher between the SAF and the RSF with a bufferzone controlled by the Darfur Joint Forces.358 In August 2023, tensions between the Darfurian
armed groups and the RSF escalated due to the involvement of the Joint Forces in escorting
humanitarian convoys from Port Sudan to El Fasher. Later, in October 2023, tensions
heightened further when the RSF deployed troops around El Fasher, threatening to attack thearmy.359 As of January 2024, North Darfur remained a contested territory by warring parties.360
Since April 2023, the SLM-AW gained control of large swaths of territory in Darfur region
beyond the Jebel Marra complex, the area previously under their control. Other forces
intensified their presence on the territory such as the SLM-MM, the GSLF, the SLM-TC, theJEM, and the SA. Several groups also announced their support for either one or the otherprimary warring faction.361 By November 2023, two of the main groups of the Darfur Joint
Forces, the SLM-MM and the JEM, declared their commitment to protecting civilians and sided
with the army against the RSF.362 They engaged in clashes with the RSF in North Darfur
despite the Joint Forces remaining officially neutral in the conflict as reiterated by the SLM-TC
leader in January 2024.363
The escalation of violence, infrastructure destruction, looting and attacks to private properties
have led to the displacement of thousands of civilians364 to neighbouring areas and to Chad.365(d)Security incidents and impact on the civilian population

From 15 April 2023 to 31 January 2024, ACLED observed 696 security incidents in the Darfur
region for a total estimate of 4 997 fatalities.366 However, this is most likely a conservative
estimate, 367 as also indirectly suggested by intelligence sources cited by the UN Panel ofExperts in January 2024, according to whom ‘between 10,000 and 15,000 people were killed
in El Geneina alone’.368

The New Humanitarian, Snapshots: How Sudan's conflict is impacting Darfur, 20 December 2023, url
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 14
359
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 17, 18
360
Sudan Tribune, Renewed clashes erupt in El Fasher, leaving one dead and four injured, 24 January 2024, url,
accessed 15 March 2024
361
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Ethnic Strife Amid Escalating Power Struggles, 6 October 2023, url
362
Sudan Tribune, Key Darfur groups join Sudanese army in its war against RSF paramilitary forces, 16 November
2023, url; Radio Dabanga, Darfur armed movements renounce neutrality in Sudan war, 17 November 2023, url
363
Sudan Tribune, Al-Hadi Idris reiterates neutrality and unity of Darfur joint forces, 8 January 2024, url
364
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: The SAF Faces Setbacks as Armed Groups Overtake Territory Across theCountry, 21 July 2023, url
365
UN Security Council, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition
Assistance Mission in the Sudan, 31 August 2023, url, para. 20
366
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
367
ACLED, Sudan: Setting the Stage for a Long War, 17 January 2024, url
368
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 54
357

358

51

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

Among the 696 security events reported by ACLED, 409 were coded as battles, 46 as
explosions/remote violence and 241 as incidents of violence against civilians. In 264 instances
civilians were the primary or only target. Security incidents were recorded across all Darfur
states, with South Darfur accounting for 36 % of the total violence recorded by ACLED.369
The highest number of incidents was reached in August 2023, when the number ofoccurrences in South Darfur almost doubled compared to the other areas of the region. The
number of incidents decreased by half between November and December 2023.370 80 % ofdeaths occurred in South and West Darfur, with El Geneina, located in West Darfur, reporting
the highest number of casualties (2012).371
Security incidents by type : 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
Battles

Explosions/Remote violence

Violence against civilians

120
100
80

60
40
20
0
Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Figure 6. Evolution of security events coded as battles, explosions/remote violence and violence against
civilians in Darfur, 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024, based on ACLED data372

Among main security events, in June 2023, sources reported that at least 200 people were
killed and 862 other wounded on the road between El Geneina and Chad borders. Civilians
were attacked by the RSF and members of an Arab militia.373 On 22 August 2023, at least 26
civilians, mostly women and children, were killed while sheltering under a bridge by shells
reportedly fired by the SAF. In Zalingei, dozens of IDPs were reportedly killed between 14 and
17 September 2023 when Hasahisa camp was hit by RSF shells.374 On 5 November 2023, the
RSF and an Arab-allied militia attacked the Ardamata IDP Camp, resulting in civilian deaths,
mostly Masalit men. Reports indicated that between 800 to 2000 people were killed in thecity between 3 and 6 November 2023, with 800 fatalities across four events.375 For more
information see 2.4 Non-Arabs/Africans in Darfur.

EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
370
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
371
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
372
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
373
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
374
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan, 22 February 2024, url
375
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
369

52

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Estimated number of fatalities - 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
2415

2500
2000

1593

1500
1000
500

433

520

Central Darfur

North Darfur

36

0East Darfur

South Darfur

West Darfur

Figure 7. Fatalities as a result of armed conflict in Darfur, 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024, ACLED data376

1.2.2.

Khartoum(a)

Background

Khartoum State is the smallest state of Sudan by area but the most densely inhabited with apopulation of 9.4 million.377 Located at the confluence of the White Nile and the Blue Nile378
the state capital, Khartoum, consists of three cities connected through ten bridges –Omdurman along the western bank, Bahri (or Khartoum North) on the eastern bank in thenorth, and Khartoum between the Niles in the south.379 The state borders with Northern, River
Nile, Kassala, Gedaref, Al Jazirah, White Nile and North Kordofan states.380(b)Armed actors

In Khartoum, the two primary warring parties are the SAF and the RSF. Detailed information
about these actors can be found in section 1.1.3(b) Major state and non-state armed groups.
(c)

Main conflict dynamics and territorial control

Since the onset of the conflict, the SAF, the RSF, and their allied militia groups have engaged
in repeated fighting in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri.381 Most events reported in Khartoum
involved airstrikes and artillery shelling.382 Since the beginning, the RSF has demonstrated
agility in swiftly moving across the capital, gaining control of main roads, and the SAF has
responded by mobilising its air force.383 Strategic sites such as the presidential palace, thearmy and RSF headquarters, and the bridges that connect Khartoum’s various districts haveexperienced frequent changes in control.384 In April 2023, the RSF deployed forces in the
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
377
UNOCHA, Khartoum State Profile, March 2023, url, p. 2
378
Africapolis, Sudan, accessed on 9 February 2024, url
379
IDS and EARF, Khartoum Land Nexus Research Team (2020), The Urban Land Nexus and Inclusive Urbanisationin Khartoum, Briefing Note 3, Brighton, UK, url
380
UNOCHA, Khartoum State Profile, March 2023, url, p. 1
381
Radio Dabanga, Unravelling Sudan’s militia matrix: PRF and other emerging forces, 26 September 2023, url
382
ACLED, Situation Update, Sudan: Conflict Intensifies Following the Breakdown of Jeddah Talks, 23 June
2023, url
383
Africa Confidential, How the generals blew up the transition, 27 April 2023, url
384
ICG, A Race against Time to Halt Sudan’s Collapse, 22 June 2023, url
376

53EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

eastern neighbourhoods of Khartoum, the airport and the city centre. RSF troops were present
in Bahri and Omdurman neighbourhoods as well. The SAF had control of the General
Command headquarters and Kober Bridge as well as the southwest area and the weapons
factories area in Khartoum. In Bahri and Omdurman the SAF has maintained control of theirmilitary bases.385 Between April and August 2023, the conflict intensified concentrating on
strategic areas, damaging military and civilian properties.386 In September 2023, the SAF
began to display a new military capacity, employing kamikaze drones to carry out precision
strikes against RSF vehicles.387 Additional strategic locations were involved in the fighting
between August and December 2023, including several key bridges388 such as the Shambat
bridge that was bombed in November 2023.389 Additionally, the same month, an alternativeroute to reach the capital, the Jebel Awlia dam, located in south of Khartoum, sustained
severe damages.390
The RSF had secured control over most of the city by December 2023. In January 2024, theSAF launched a synchronized offensive across multiple fronts in Omdurman and Bahri,
resulting in the recapture of several areas.391 Fighting increased in the sites still under thearmy’s control such as the SAF General Command in central Khartoum and the Signal Corps in
Bahri.392 Nonetheless, the RSF continues to hold strategic positions in Omdurman,393 despite
the SAF artillery attacks towards RSF targets.394
The warring parties violated ceasefires multiple times,395 resulting in civilians being caught inthe crossfire, with attacks on markets and residential areas leading to significant civilian
casualties,396 and widespread displacement.397 The use of heavy artillery weapons has caused
severe destruction to commercial, governmental and residential buildings as well as damage
to critical infrastructure such as power and water stations, hospitals, and communication
networks affecting connectivity.398 By June 2023, banks in the capital were not accessible andthe movement of goods and people was hindered by checkpoints blocking traffic in any

ACLED, Situation update, Sudan: Fighting Rages Amid Ceasefire Talks, 26 May 2023, url
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition
Assistance Mission in the Sudan Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 16
387
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition
Assistance Mission in the Sudan Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/644, 13 November 2023, url, para. 16
388
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition
Assistance Mission in the Sudan Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/644, 13 November 2023, url, para. 16
389
Sudan War Monitor, Shambat Bridge destroyed, bringing new advantage to Sudan's army, 11 November 2023,
url
390
Reuters, Sudanese warring parties trade blame for damaged dam south of Khartoum, 18 November 2023, url
391
ACLED, Sudan: The SAF Breaks the Siege, 5 February 2024, url
392
Radio Dabanga, Escalated fighting in greater Khartoum persists, prices of fuel and food soar in Sudan, 23
January 2024, url
393
ACLED, Sudan: The SAF Breaks the Siege, 5 February 2024, url
394
Radio Dabanga, Escalated fighting in greater Khartoum persists, prices of fuel and food soar in Sudan, 23
January 2024, url
395
ACLED, Situation Update, Sudan: Conflict Intensifies Following the Breakdown of Jeddah Talks, 23 June 2023,
url
396
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition
Assistance Mission in the Sudan Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url, para. 30
397
IOM, DTM Sudan, Weekly Displacement Snapshot 02, 5 September 2023, url
398
Daily Sabah, 18 killed in Khartoum market attack after army abandons talks, 1 June 2023, url; HRW, Sudan:
Explosive weapons harming civilians, 4 May 2023, url; Radio Dabanga, Water supply cut off in Sudan
capital as fighting escalates, 6 June 2023, url
385

386

54

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

direction.399 By January 2024, the RSF had banned civilians from driving vehicles, alongside
the establishment of multiple checkpoints and the enforcement of a curfew.400
Reports indicate that health facilities were vandalised and looted, with damages reported in atleast 58 incidents, largely attributed to the use of explosive weaponry by the RSF and the SAF
with Ibn Sina University Hospital being struck multiple times.401 The OHCHR reported a patternof killings involving unarmed individuals who were attempting to protect their properties or
female relatives from sexual violence by the RSF.402 For information on access to health andmedical supplies see section 1.1.5 Humanitarian situation.
Prison breaks and the absence of law enforcement actors have contributed to episodes ofassaults, looting of markets and private properties, and other violent acts perpetrated against
civilians attempting to reach services as well as those escaping security risks.403 Reports haveemerged, particularly in Halfaya and Masalma, of women and girls being abducted by the RSF
and held in detention camps.404 See section 2.5 Women and girls for more information.
(d)Security incidents and impact on the civilian population

From 15 April 2023 to 31 January 2024, 70 % of all security incidents registered by ACLED in
Sudan have occurred in Khartoum state.405 During the reference period, ACLED observed
3 275 security incidents in Khartoum state for a total estimate of 6 478 fatalities. However, as
reported by sources, including ACLED, these figures are likely to be underestimates.406
Among the 3 275 security events reported by ACLED, 1 783 were coded as battles, 1 137 as
explosions/remote violence and 355 as incidents of violence against civilians. In 615 instances
civilians were the primary or only target. Security incidents were recorded across the wholestate, with the city of Khartoum accounting for 40 % of the total.407
Among the main security events, national sources reported clashes between the SAF and the
RSF at the Armoured Corps base in August 2023, resulting in civilian casualties, extensive
damage to civilian properties and displacement.408 In September 2023, at least 40 civilians
were killed, and dozens injured in an airstrike on a market in southern Khartoum.409 According
to sources cited by the OHCHR, in April 2023, the RSF used the presence of detained civilians
in streets and open areas close to buildings as ‘human shields’ to deter SAF airstrikes in the
ICG, A Race against Time to Halt Sudan’s Collapse, 22 June 2023, url
Al Jazeera, ‘Can’t trust the Janjaweed’: Sudan’s capital ravaged by RSF rule, 20 January 2023, url
401
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan, 6 February 2024, url, p.1
402
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024, url, para. 36
403
UNHCR Protection Brief – Sudan – June 2023, 4 June 2023, url
404
Al Arabiya, Shadows of unwanted pregnancies loom large before Sudanese rape victims as war rages, 22 June
2023, url
405
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
406
Reuters, Sudan war’s death toll in Khartoum is double official figures, independent tallies show, 28 July 2023,
url; The Guardian, Monday briefing: Charting the forgotten crisis in Sudan, 26 February 2024, url; ACLED, Sudan:
Setting the Stage for a Long War, 17 January 2024, url
407
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
408
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
409
The Guardian, At least 40 civilians killed in airstrike on Khartoum market in Sudan, 10 September 2023, url
399

400

55

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

area of East Khartoum and Bahri.410 In January 2024, 18 people were killed and 35 were
wounded in aerial bombardments on Soba El Mahatta, north of El Kalaklat in southwest
Khartoum.411
Security incidents by type: 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
Battles

Explosions/Remote violence

Violence against civilians

500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Figure 8. Evolution of security events coded as battles, explosions/remote violence and violence against
civilians in Khartoum, 15 April 2023 – 31 January 2024, based on ACLED data412

Estimated number of fatalities - 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
1581

1600

1400

1198

1200
1000

880

824

800
600
400

242

292

Apr

May

408

400
279

374

200
0
Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Figure 9. Fatalities as a result of armed conflict in Khartoum, 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024, monthly
breakdown based on ACLED data413

OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024, url, para. 29
Radio Dabanga, Sudan Armed Forces advance in Omdurman, politicians detained by RSF and army, 16 January2023, url
412
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
413
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
410
411

56

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

1.2.3.

Al Jazirah(a)Background

Tucked between the Blue and White Nile in the east-central region, Al Jazirah state is home toalmost 5.5 million people. The most populated town within the state is Hasahisa with morethan 500 000 residents.414 Al Jazirah state produces half of Sudan’s total wheat harvest,
alongside significant yields of cotton and peanuts.415(b)Armed actors

In Al Jazirah, the two primary warring parties are the SAF and the RSF. See section 1.1.3(b)Major state and non-state armed groups.
(c)

Main conflict dynamics and territorial control

In July 2023, the conflict expanded to the state of Al Jazirah, with air strikes that continued
over the following months.416 Initially, a number of clashes by the warring parties occurred in
the north of the state417 to then persist with a large-scale offensive by the RSF to take controlof Wad Madani, the densely populated capital and humanitarian hub, in December 2023.418
Reports indicated that dozens of civilians, including medical personnel, were killed and many
more injured during the offensive.419 The Sudan Witness project has documented arrests,
detention and killings in the capital in the days close to the takeover.420 Food factories in Wad
Medani stopped operations after being occupied and looted by RSF fighters.421 Humanitarianorganisations reported the theft of humanitarian assets,422 including the looting of essential
food supplies from the WFP warehouse in December 2023.423 The SAF withdrawal from thecity without resistance has triggered the opening of an internal investigation by the army.424
The capture of the city allowed the RSF to prevent the regular SAF’s supply lines to thecapital.425 Towards the end of the month, the RSF gained control of other cities and towns in

Sudan 2022 HNO, downloaded on 12 February 2024, url
Sudan War Monitor, RSF consolidate control over Jezira and reach the gates of Sennar, 22 December 2023, url
416
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 16
417
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition
Assistance Mission in the Sudan Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url, para. 16
418
ACLED, Situation Update January 2024 - Sudan: The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Gains Ground in Sudan,
12 January 2024, url; UNOCHA, Sudan: Clashes in Wad Madani between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and
Rapid Support Forces (RSF) - Flash Update No: 03 (as of 18 December 2023), 18 December 2023, url
419
OHCHR, Comment by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on attacks on civilians in Wad
Madani, Sudan, url
420
CIR, Sudan Witness, Wad Madani, El Gezira: Arrests, detention, and killings in Sudan's second city, 2 February
2024, url
421
Ayin network, Sudan Conflict Monitor #9, 9 January 2023, url
422
Ayin network, Sudan Conflict Monitor #9, 9 January 2023, url
423
WFP, WFP condemns theft of life-saving food from warehouse in Gezira State, 28 December 2023, url
424
MEE, Sudan: Soldiers accuse army of betrayal after retreat leaves Wad Madani to RSF, 20 December 2023, url
425
Le Monde, Au Soudan, les Forces de soutien rapide s’emparent de Wad Madani et aggravent la crise
humanitaire, 20 December 2023, url
414

415

57

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

the state, allegedly obstructing people from leaving.426 Interested localities included Hajj
Abdallah and Wad al-Haddad not far from Sennar, and al-Qutaynah in the White Nile state.427(d)Security incidents and impact on the civilian population

Between 15 April 2023 and 31 January 2024, ACLED observed 174 security incidents in Al
Jazirah state for a total estimate of 307 fatalities. However, as reported by sources, thesefigures are likely to be underestimates.428
Among these, 52 were coded as battles, 52 as explosions/remote violence and 70 asincidents of violence against civilians. In 92 instances civilians were the primary or only target.
Security incidents were recorded across the whole state, with Al Kamlin district, between Wad
Madani and Khartoum, and Wad Madani accounting for 55 % of the total recorded violence.
The number of political violence events raised sharply in December 2023 with over 120
events and over 100 reported fatalities.429
Security incidents by type: 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
Battles

Explosions/Remote violence

Violence against civilians

80
60
40
20
0
Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Figure 10. Evolution of security events coded as battles, explosions/remote violence and violence against
civilians in Al Jazirah, 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024, based on ACLED data430

During the reference period, the highest number of incidents was recorded in Medani Al
Kubra with 57 incidents mainly due to battles and violence against civilians.431 The 47 % ofdeaths occurred in Al Kamlin (138).432 In July 2023, 84 fatalities were recorded in Al Msodiya,
Al Kamlin, due to clashed between the SAF and the RSF.433 Renewed aerial bombardment by

Al Jazeera, ‘No way to leave’: Sudan paramilitary traps civilians in breadbasket state, 29 December 2023, url
Sudan War Monitor, RSF consolidate control over Jezira and reach the gates of Sennar, 22 December 2023, url
428
The Guardian, Monday briefing: Charting the forgotten crisis in Sudan, 26 February 2024, url; ACLED, Sudan:
Setting the Stage for a Long War, 17 January 2024, url
429
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
430
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
431
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
432
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: The SAF Faces Setbacks as Armed Groups Overtake Territory Across theCountry, 21 July 2023, url;
433
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
426
427

58

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

the SAF were reported on Wad Madani towards the end of January 2024.434 Additionally, theSudan Witness project documented incidents targeting farming infrastructure. 435
Estimated number of fatalities - 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
120

103
91

100

81

80
60

40
20
0

1

0

2

Apr

May

Jun

12
Jul

Aug

16

Sep

1

0

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Figure 11. Fatalities as a result of armed conflict in Al Jazirah, 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024, monthly
breakdown based on ACLED data436

1.2.4.
(a)

The Kordofans
Background

The Kordofans encompass a flat territory between the Blue Nile and the Sahara.437 According
to UN sources, the Kordofans’ population is estimated around 6 million people, with North
Kordofan being the most populous state with more than 2 million residents and the Abyei PCA
area having a population of 200 000 people.438
The Kordofans are divided into three states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West
Kordofan. They include the Abyei PCA area, a disputed territory sitting between Sudan andSouth Sudan.439 Located centrally within Sudan, North Kordofan state shares borders with six
states in the country, including Khartoum and North Darfur. El Obeid, the capital, is considereda major transport and logistical hub – with key roads and a military and civilian airport
facilitating connections to the Darfur region and eastern Sudan.440 South Kordofan stateborders with West Darfur as well as South Sudan. Hostilities have mainly centred in the townsof Kadugli and Dilling, the capital of South Kordofan and one of the most populous towns.441
The neighbouring West Kordofan is strategically located linking the Darfur region with theRadio Dabanga, Escalated fighting in greater Khartoum persists, prices of fuel and food soar in Sudan, 23
January 2024, url
435
CIR, Sudan Witness, Destruction and fires at Qurtuba poultry farm, El Gezira, 19 February 2024, url
436
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
437
Africapolis, Sudan, accessed on 9 February 2024, url
438
Sudan 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), downloaded on 12 February 2024, url
439
UNIFSA, Mandate, url
440
ACAPS, Thematic report Sudan North Kordofan: pre-crisis and current situation, 10 October 2023, url
441
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Heightened Violence in Kordofan Region as More Militia Groups Step Into theConflict, 11 August 2023, url; Sudan 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO), downloaded on 12 February 2024,
url
434

59

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

eastern of the country. It hosts most of Sudan’s oil-producing fields (such as Heglig, Difra,
Kanar, Neem, El Barasaya, and Balila).442(b)

Armed actors

The two primary warring parties are the SAF and the RSF. See section 1.1.3(b) Major state andnon-state armed groups for more information. Besides them, another major player in theregion is the SPLM-N-al-Hilu.
The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement–North (SPLM-N) was founded from units of theSouth Sudanese Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in 2011.443 The group, advocating for a
democratic and secular Sudan, controls parts of South Kordofan and Blue Nile states.444 In
2017 the group split in two factions: one led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu (SPLM-N-al-Hilu), controllingparts of the Nuba Mountain region445 and another one led by Malik Agar (SPLM-N-Agar),member of the Ingessana tribe, based in Blue Nile State. The Malik Agar faction signed the
JPA while the Abdelaziz al-Hilu faction did not.446 In 2022, the two leaders of the SPLM-NAgar, Malik Agar and Yasir Arman, announced an ‘amicable split’ between their two factions
after cracks over the military coup of 25 October 2021.447 Malik Agar was appointed as
member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council in 2021448 and replaced Hemedti as Deputy
Chair of the Sovereignty Council in May 2023.449 SPLM-N-al-Hilu views both the SAF and the
RSF as rivals.450
According to sources quoted by Ayin network, ‘hundreds of youths’ have been recruited ‘fromthe Al-Hamar community’ to fight against the RSF.451 See section 1.1.3(b) Major state and nonstate armed groups for more information on local militia groups.
(c)

Main conflict dynamics and territorial control

Hostilities between the SAF and the RSF have affected North Kordofan since April 2023, with
the involvement of nomadic Arab pastoralist militias.452 In June 2023, the RSF along withaffiliated militias, mainly composed of Hawazma and Misseriya from South and West Kordofan,
initiated efforts to gain control of El Obeid.453 Authorities in North Kordofan imposed several
measures to control the violence, including a dusk-to-dawn curfew and a motorcycle ban454

Ayin network, West Kordofan: the battle for Babanusa, 28 January 2024, url
Insecurity Insight, Sudan Situation Report Analysis, September 2023, url, p. 8
444
PolGeoNow, Sudan War Control Map & Timeline - October 2023, 10 February 2024, url
445
Sudan war monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, Zones of military control as of February 1, 2024, url
446
IDEA, The Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan, 2021, url, p. 11
447
Sudan Tribune, Agar, Arman agree on “amicable split” of SPLM-N, 18 August 2022, url
448
Radio Dabanga, Rebel leaders join Sudan Sovereignty Council, 8 March 2021, url
449
Radio Dabanga, El Burhan sacks Hemedti as Sudan TSC V-P, appoints Malik Agar, 21 May 2023, url
450
Sudan War Monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, 1 February 2024, url
451
Ayin network, Sudan’s mass arming of civilians, 24 February 2024, url
452
Sudan War Monitor, Map of the Areas of Control in Sudan, 1 February 2024, url; The Guardian, Communal
violence and civilian deaths in Sudan fuel fears of widening conflict, 12 May 2023, url
453
Ayin network, The Sudan Conflict Monitor, 19 June update, url
454
Radio Dabanga, Sudan war: dusk to dawn curfew in North Kordofan, 3 August 2023, url; UNITAMS, Situation in
the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan - Report of
the Secretary-General, 13 November 2023 url
442
443

60

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

while the SAF and the RSF attempted to control key roads.455 Other nomadic Arab pastoralist
militias - the Dar Hamid and Jawmaa - were involved in the clashes against the RSF.456 Looting
and attacks on humanitarian offices and assets have been reported.457
In South Kordofan, local communities have divided, siding with different factions such as theSAF, RSF or SPLM-N. For instance, the al-Hilu faction of the SPLM-N militarily supports the SAF
in the city of Dilling, and some Nuba clans supports the SAF while others are with the SPLMN.458 Members of the SPLM-N-al-Hilu faction attempted to advance in government-controlled
territories taking control of four SAF camps around Kadugli.459 Fatalities in this area spread
across various towns, with Dilling, Kadugli, and Ghadeer being the most affected, reporting
136, 132, and 106 fatalities, respectively.460
The SPLM-N-al-Hilu expanded its control over South Kordofan but faced threats from theadvance of the RSF. The RSF captured Habila in the Nuba mountains and reports emerged oftargeted violence against the Nuba ethnic group. Amid inter-ethnic violence around Dilling,
the SPLM-N-al-Hilu joined the SAF to maintain control of the city, leading to continued clashes
with the RSF.461 A surge in mining activities has been reported in the area, including thealleged use of harmful extraction practices exposing the population to lethal risks.462
In West Kordofan, since April 2023 the Misseriya and the Hamar,463 involved in fighting prior to
the beginning of the conflict,464 have aligned with the RSF and the SAF, respectively.465
However, some internal divisions emerged over time among the Misseriya leaders, with some
supporting the RSF and others opposing its operations in the area.466 Clashes between the
SAF and the RSF erupted in Al-Fula and Balila with the airport reportedly being damaged.467
During the last weeks of January 2024, intense fighting occurred between the RSF and the
SAF in Babanusa with heavy shelling and airstrikes. Dozens of casualties and significant
infrastructure damages were reported.468

ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Heightened Violence in Kordofan Region as More Militia Groups Step Into theConflict, 11 August 2023, url
456
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Heightened Violence in Kordofan Region as More Militia Groups Step Into theConflict, 11 August 2023, url
457
Global Protection cluster, At a glance: protection impacts of the conflict, Update no. 21, 27 November 2023, url
458
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: The SAF Breaks the Siege, 5 February 2024, url
459
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 22; Ayin network, The Sudan
Conflict Monitor, 19 June update, url
460
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
461
ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: The SAF Breaks the Siege, 5 February 2024, url
462
Radio Dabanga, South Kordofan mining practices prompt environmental outcry, 12 February 2024, url
463
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan - Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/355, 16 May 2023, url, para. 20
464
ACLED, Context Assessment - New Political Deal Amid Rising Disorder in Sudan, 3 March 2023, url
465
Ayin network, Sudan Conflict Monitor – 4 September 2023, url
466
Sudan Tribune, Tension erupts within Misseriya tribe over RSF’s plans to seize West Kordofan, 12 January 2024,
url
467
UNSC, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan - Report of the Secretary-General, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url
468
Sudan Tribune, Heavy fighting erupts between Sudanese army, RFS in West Kordofan’s Babanusa, 23 January2024, url
455

61

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

The widespread use of conventional weapons including field artillery, mortars, air-dropped
weapons and anti-aircraft guns during the clashes have left unexploded ordnances (UXOs) inurban areas such as El Obeid, in North Kordofan, according to the UN Mine Action Service(UNMAS).469 Armed attacks were reported in the Abyei PCA area in January 2024.470(d)Security incidents and impact on the civilian population

From 15 April 2023 to 31 January 2024, ACLED observed 431 security incidents in the
Kordofans for a total estimate of 1852 fatalities.471 However, as reported by sources, thesefigures are likely to be underestimates.472
Among 431 security events reported by ACLED, 263 were coded as battles, 60 as
explosions/remote violence and 108 as incidents of violence against civilians. In 125 instances
civilians were the primary or only target. Security incidents were recorded across all states,with North Kordofan accounting for 40 % of the total.473
The highest number of incidents was recorded in North Kordofan (173 incidents), followed bySouth Kordofan with 138 incidents mainly due to battles and violence against civilians.474 Julyand August 2023 saw the highest number of occurrences across the region, with a total of 60
and 57 incidents respectively.475 Abyei PCA, the disputed area between Sudan and South
Sudan, reported a consistent low number of incidents throughout the year except for anotable increase in December.476
Violence escalated in the region starting from June 2023.477 Initially affecting North and South
Kordofan, the violence spread to West Kordofan in the summer months. In this area, after anumber of fatalities in May 2023 (34), a significant surge in fatalities occurred in August 2023
(90) as violence worsened over the whole Kordofans.478 September and October 2023 saw asustained level of violent incidents marked by an increase in the number of fatalities mostly
attributed to battles. Tensions surged once again in November and December 2023.479

UNMAS, Sudan, June 2023, urlRadio Dabanga, Sudan-South Sudan border: 52 people killed in Abyei clashes, 30 January 2024, url
471
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
472
The Guardian, Monday briefing: Charting the forgotten crisis in Sudan, 26 February 2024, url; ACLED, Sudan:
Setting the Stage for a Long War, 17 January 2024, url
473
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
474
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
475
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
476
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
477
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
478
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
479
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
469
470

62

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Security incidents by region 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
Battles

Explosions/Remote violence

Violence against civilians

200
150
100
50
0
North Kordofan

South KordofanWest Kordofan

Abyei PCA

Figure 12. Evolution of security events coded as battles, explosions/remote violence and violence against
civilians in the Kordofans between 15 April 2023 and 31 January 2024, based on ACLED data 480

Estimated number of fatalities - 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024
350

303

300

306

288

250

216

200

100

156

152

150
82

142

110

97

50
0
Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Figure 13. Fatalities as a result of armed conflict in the Kordofans, 15 April 2023 - 31 January 2024, monthly
breakdown based on ACLED data481

The number of fatalities reached its highest point in January 2024 with a total of 306 fatalities
reported in the region of which 233 in North Kordofan alone.482 The number of fatalities in thisstate nearly tripled between April and June 2023, largely because of armed conflict.483
According to ACLED data, during the reference period, Sheikan and Um Rawaba, the twomost populous towns in the state,484 were the most affected areas within North Kordofan, bothin terms of number of events and fatalities.485 Between June and August 2023, clashes have

EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
481
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
482
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
483
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
484
Sudan 2022 HNO, downloaded on 12 February 2024, url
485
EUAA analysis based on publicly available ACLED data. ACLED, Data Export Tool, Sudan, data covering 15 April
2023 to 31 January 2024, as of 2 February 2024, url
480

63EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

mainly centred in El Obeid, Bara Town and Rehid al-Nuba.486 44 % of deaths occurred in North
Kordofan, with Sheikan reporting the highest number of casualties (606).
In January 2024, intercommunal clashes between the Neur and the Ngok Dinkas in the Abyei
PCA area over control of the border caused 52 casualties among civilians.487

ACLED, Situation Update - Sudan: Heightened Violence in Kordofan Region as More Militia Groups Step Into theConflict, 11 August 2023, url; UNOCHA, Sudan Humanitarian Update (14 July 2023) last updated 24 July 2023 url
487
Radio Dabanga, Sudan-South Sudan border: 52 people killed in Abyei clashes, 30 January 2024, url
486

64SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 20242.

Selected profiles affected by the
conflict

In October 2023, the UN Human Rights Council established the Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on
Sudan, which was meant to investigate into human rights and international humanitarian law
violations in the context of the ongoing armed conflict.488 On 18 January 2024, the FFM began
to work.489
Against this backdrop, the present report addresses a selection of the main profiles affectedby the conflict based on available sources as of 31 January 2024.

2.1.

Journalists and treatment of media personnel

Since the outbreak of the hostilities, in April 2023, journalists and media personnel have beentargeted by both sides of the conflict, while many media outlets were forced to shut down.490
Based on the UN Panel of Experts’ Final Report on the Sudan, the targeting of journalists,
among other profiles, notably at the hand of RSF and allied militias, was primarily due to thework they had performed before and during the conflict ‘as they continued to monitor, reporton and advocate against violations committed by the warring parties’.491
Journalists have been the subject of death threats, forced detention, targeted killings, anddefamation campaigns, including the publication of anonymous lists that classified them asworking for one of the conflict parties.492 As a consequence of this, many journalists havegone into hiding, thus ‘creating a void in credible information’, or have sided with one party of
the conflict as a survival strategy.493
Since April 2023, several violent events - harassment, arbitrary detentions, looting, injuries
and killings of journalists - have taken place in the country, notably in Khartoum and in Darfur,
at the hands of both warring parties, RSF and SAF, including the General Intelligence

OHCHR, UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan begins work, calls on warring parties to end conflict and respecthuman rights, 18 January 2024, url
489
OHCHR, UN Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan begins work, calls on warring parties to end conflict and respecthuman rights, 18 January 2024, url490
Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url; Columbia Journalism
Review, Q&A: Hiba Morgan on Sudan’s forgotten war, 17 January 2024, url; UNESCO, In the Shadow of Violence:
The Pressing Needs of Sudanese Journalists, 8 November 2023, url; Free Press Unlimited, The Sudan war is also acrisis for the safety of journalists, 23 June 2023, url
491
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 61-62
492
Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url; SJS, Widespread violations
against journalists during the first month of the War, 14 May 2023, url; Free Press Unlimited, The Sudan war is also acrisis for the safety of journalists, 23 June 2023, url; REDRESS, Ruining a country, devastating its people,
September 2023, url, p. 21; Middle East Monitor, The War In Sudan Silences Journalists, 26 January 2024, url493
Ayin, Network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
488

65EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUMService.494 Based on an investigation conducted by the SJS in collaboration with Arab
Reporters for Investigative Journalism,495 and published by the NGO Media in Cooperation
and Transition (MiCT), in the period 15 April – 21 September 2023, Sudanese journalists havesuffered 249 such violations.496 Middle East Monitor, quoting the same SJS investigation,
provided a breakdown of those 249 violations, which included: 71 journalists assaulted athome, 43 detained, 22 beaten and robbed, 18 arrested, 15 shot, 13 threatened, 7 injured, 4murdered, 2 forcibly disappeared.497
Still according to the same source, ‘both parties to the conflict systematically violate[d]international law, which mandates the protection of civilians and journalists as neutral parties
not participating in the war’.498 Further, Radio Dabanga quoted the Sudanese Journalists
Network (SJN) stating that ‘SJN “follows with great concern the systematic targeting ofjournalists by both warring parties through summons, arbitrary detention without legal
justification, and extrajudicial killings”’.499 Months before, in July 2023, RSF had alreadycondemned the ‘deliberate targeting of journalists by both of the two rival military factions’.500
Journalists were targeted to prevent them from reporting or because of their reporting on
various violations, including through lootings, harassment experienced by the displaced, andincidents of rape.501 As indicated by Insecurity Insight, the majority of conflict-related incidents
of sexual violence were reported through news outlets in the period April – September 2023,
and as a result, raids and attacks against journalists have risen, especially in Khartoum, duringthat period. As a consequence, this as well as other areas are turned into ‘“dark spots”’,
referring to their going unreported.502

MiCT, In the Shadow of Violence: The Pressing Needs of Sudanese Journalists, October 2023, url, pp. 19-21; seealso Free Press Unlimited, The Sudan war is also a crisis for the safety of journalists, 23 June 2023, url; CPJ,
Journalists shot, beaten, and harassed covering conflict between Sudan’s rival military groups, 30 May 2024, url
495
ARIJ, The War In Sudan Silences Journalists, 30 January 2024, url
496
MiCT, In the Shadow of Violence: The Pressing Needs of Sudanese Journalists, October 2023, url, p. 21; seealso Ayin network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
497
Middle East Monitor, The War In Sudan Silences Journalists, 26 January 2024, url; see also Ayin network, The
war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
498
Middle East Monitor, The War In Sudan Silences Journalists, 26 January 2024, url
499
Radio Dabanga, Sudanese Journalists Network condemns violence against reporters, 24 January 2024, url
500
RSF, Sudan’s belligerents are targeting journalists, 5 July 2023, url
501
Middle East Monitor, The War In Sudan Silences Journalists, 26 January 2024, url; see also Ayin network, The
war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
502
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, pp. 3-4
494

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Journalists were also subject to social media hate speech or threats, especially on WhatsApp,
from unknown entities or other journalists.503 Various sources, including Radio Dabanga,504
SJS,505 CPJ,506 and RSF,507 provided detailed accounts of some of these instances.
Within this context, MiCT carried out a needs assessment of the Sudan media personnel
based in the country, whereby it interviewed 213 journalists until September 2023,508 out of an
estimated total of 1 100 media workers based in Sudan before the outbreak of the war. 509
Among others, the survey found out that: a) two-thirds of the 213 respondents had faced atleast one type of threat - physiological (90 %), physical (53 %), or digital (51 %) – and that b) 80% of these wish[ed] to relocate; c) more than three-quarters of respondents had faced‘publication restrictions’, with 26 % ‘practising self-censorship’ and 20 % ‘experiencing direct
censorship’.510 As reported by the Ayin network, quoting SJS data, as of November 2023, 56
journalists had moved to Egypt, 10 to Ethiopia and South Sudan, and 20 to Uganda and
Kenya.511
For more information about the crackdown on media outlets and on communication in general
see section 1.1.4 Communication blackout and media coverage.

2.2.

Humanitarian and health personnel

As mentioned in the section 1.1.5 Humanitarian situation, most notably 1.1.5(d) Aid delivery, theoutbreak of the military conflict in April 2023 severely disrupted the availability andeffectiveness of humanitarian actors and assistance in the country, ‘with national aid workers
displaced, offices and facilities looted, and international staff evacuated’.512
Already in May 2023, the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) report on the activities of
the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan (UNITAMS),
indicated that the outbreak of the fighting had led to a ‘drastic deterioration of the
Middle East Monitor, The War In Sudan Silences Journalists, 26 January 2024, url; see also Ayin network, The
war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
504
Radio Dabanga, Sudan RSF detain a journalist and a politician in El Gezira, 26 January 2024, url; Radio
Dabanga, Sudanese Journalists Network condemns violence against reporters, 24 January 2024, url; Radio
Dabanga, Sudan activists denounce RSF’s ‘arbitrary detention’ of El Midan editor-in-chief, 22 January 2024, url;Radio Dabanga, Sudan activists condemn RSF detention and ‘enforced disappearance’ of journalists, 23 November
2023, url; Radio Dabanga, Sudanese journalists demand justice for the killing of Halima Idris on Int’l Day to End
Impunity, 3 November 2023, url; Radio Dabanga, Comment: ‘War puts Sudan journalists under disproportionate
pressure’, 17 August 2023, url; Radio Dabanga, Sudanese media decry ‘four months of violations’, 15 August 2023,
url
505
SJS, Monitoring Report - Widespread violations against journalists during the first month of the war, 14 May
2023, url; SJS, Monitoring report on the conditions of Sudanese female and male journalists - Incidents listed fromMay 15 to May 31, 5 June 2023, url; SJS, Monitoring Report in the week ending 23 June, 23 June 2023, url
506
CPJ, Sudan, 2024, url; CPJ, Sudan, 2023, url
507
RSF, Sudan, n.d., url
508
UNESCO, In the Shadow of Violence: The Pressing Needs of Sudanese Journalists, 8 November 2023, url
509
Radio Dabanga, Sudanese Journalists Syndicate elects first chair in 33 years, 29 August 2022, url; MiCT, In the
Shadow of Violence: The Pressing Needs of Sudanese Journalists, October 2023, url, p. 8510
MiCT, In the Shadow of Violence: The Pressing Needs of Sudanese Journalists, October 2023, url, p. 9
511
Ayin network, The war in Sudan silences journalists, coverage, 21 January 2024, url
512
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, pp. 3, 5; see also
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/355, 16 May 2023, url, para. 12503

67EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

humanitarian situation’, with ‘humanitarian actors [...] working in an extremely dangerous
environment’.513 In the following reporting period, as of August 2023, the situation had
become ‘catastrophic’, with humanitarian activities interrupted due to widespread insecurity.514
For further information on the treatment of humanitarian and health profiles, see sections
below.

2.2.1.

Aid workers

The UNSG reported that in the period 15 April – 30 September 2023, 931 incidents impacting
humanitarian operations had been reported in Sudan, of which ‘36 per cent were the result ofactive hostilities’, and ‘26 per cent were the result of violence against humanitarian personnel,
assets and facilities’.515 Against this backdrop, according to the Aid Workers Security Database(AWSD), since the eruption of hostilities on 15 April 2023 and until January 2024, 53 aid
workers have been victims of violent attacks, with the following breakdown: 49 national staff,
of which 19 were killed, 26 wounded, and 4 kidnapped.516 The UNSG reported that in the
period 15 April – 30 September, at least 20 humanitarian workers had been killed and 30
injured.517 Moreover, in the period 15 April – December 2023, Humanitarian Outcomes
reported that at least 32 aid workers had been detained.518
Members of the volunteer-driven emergency response rooms, often abbreviated as ERRs see section 1.1.5 Humanitarian situation for further details – were also targeted, as reported byvarious sources throughout the reference period.519 At the beginning of February 2023, in a
UN News article, a Sudanese young activist commenting on the emergency room situation in
Omdurman was quoted stating: ‘“Young people are targeted, arrested and killed while theywork in very difficult conditions”’.520 The New Humanitarian reporting on the growing threatsthat emergency rooms groups were facing at the hands of both warring parties at the
beginning of August 2023, indicated as risks and grounds for targeting: the risk of beingarrested by both the RSF and the SAF on grounds of supporting their rivals; the risk of being
targeted by military authorities for reasons of a suspected link with the resistance committees,
which oppose army rule – see for further info the section 2.3.3 Resistance committees’
members; the risk of being bombed by the warring parties, for which reason they tended tooperate without permanent offices.521

UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/355, 16 May 2023, url, para. 36, 37
514
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 36
515
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url, para. 40
516
AWSD, Sudan – 2023, January 2024, url
517
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url, para. 40
518
Humanitarian Outcomes, Humanitarian Access SCORE Report: Sudan, December 2023, url, p. 10
519
CMI, Mutual aid & rethinking international humanitarian engagement in Sudan, May 2023, url; The New
Humanitarian, How mutual aid networks are powering Sudan’s humanitarian response, 2 August 2023, url; UN
News, Youth-led ‘emergency rooms’ shine rays of hope in war-torn Sudan, 3 February 2024, url
520
UN News, Youth-led ‘emergency rooms’ shine rays of hope in war-torn Sudan, 3 February 2024, url
521
The New Humanitarian, How mutual aid networks are powering Sudan’s humanitarian response, 2 August 2023,
url
513

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

2.2.2.

Healthcare personnel

The WHO Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) indicates that during thereference period a total of 62 attacks – either ‘confirmed’ or ‘probable’ – affected the healthcare system in Sudan, while causing 38 deaths and 45 injured people. These attacks included
25 attacks that impacted directly the healthcare personnel.522 However, these were ‘only theattacks that the WHO could verify through its verification system’.523
Another source, Insecurity Insight, based on agency and open-source data, reported during
the reference period 268 incidents of violence or threat of violence against the healthcare
sector in Sudan, with the following breakdown: 54 health workers killed, 63 injured, and 28
healthcare workers kidnapped. As shown on the Insight Security’s Attacked and Threatened
Health Care at Risk Interactive Map, during the same period the intensity of security eventsaffecting healthcare in Sudan stood out at global level.524
In its January 2024, Incident Monitoring Brief, Insecurity Insight reported that the killings ofhealthcare workers extended over nine Sudan states, with most of the events taking place in
Khartoum, and that healthcare personnel were killed ‘inside their homes, while travelling toand from work and at hospitals and clinics during working hours’.525
Reportedly most of those affected were hit by acts of indiscriminate violence, shelling, anddrone strikes, in the context of indiscriminate attacks and raids against the healthcare
infrastructure.526 At the same time the active targeting of healthcare personnel, notably at thehands of RSF forces, was systematically reported by various sources and on various grounds,
during the reference period. Such grounds included: unspecified reasons,527 receiving or
treating members of the opposed armed forces,528 being accused of working for the opposed
military intelligence (of both sides).529

WHO, Surveillance Systems for Attacks on Health Care, Sudan 15 April 2023 – 31 January 2024, url
OCHA, Sudan Humanitarian Update, 25 January 2024, url, p. 2
524
Insecurity Insight, Attacked and Threatened: Health Care at Risk, 31 January 2024, url
525
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan, 10-23 January 2024, url
526
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan, 10-23 January 2024, url
527
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 1, 15 -19 April 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on
Health Care in Sudan no. 2, 19 -26 April 2023, url, pp. 1-2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 3,
27 April – 3 May 2023, url, p. 2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 5, 14 -27 June 2023, url, p.
2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 6, 28 June - 11 July 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight,
Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 8, 26 July – 8 August 2023, August 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight, Attacks
on Health Care in Sudan no. 11, 6 – 19 September 2023, url, p. 2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan
no. 12, 20 September – 3 October 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 13, 4 - 17
October 2023, url, p. 2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 14, 18 - 31 October 2023, url, pp. 1-2;
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 17, 29 November – 12 December 2023, url, p. 2; Insecurity
Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 18, 13 - 26 December 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on
Health Care in Sudan no. 19, 27 December – 9 January 2024, url, p. 2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in
Sudan no. 20, 10 – 23 January 2024, url, p. 1
528
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 4, 17 May – 13 June 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight,
Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 14, 18 - 31 October 2023, url, pp. 1-2
529
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 3, 27 April – 3 May 2023, url, p. 2; Insecurity Insight,
Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 19, 27 December – 9 January 2024, url, p. 2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on
Health Care in Sudan no. 20, 10 – 23 January 2024, url, p. 2
522
523

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

In a brief released in July 2023, Insecurity Insight conducted a social media monitoring
research in order to understand the sentiments towards the aid sector and notably the
Sudanese healthcare workers represented by the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate, a professional
association of Sudanese doctors. The research found that social media account holders
supporting the SAF ‘rejected’ the Sudanese Doctors Syndicate neutral position in the armed
conflict and: a) accused the organisation of de facto siding with the RSF; b) accused it ofaiding the RSF and collaborating with the so-called ‘Janjaweed’ militia; c) repeatedly
threatened the Doctors Syndicate with violence.530
Patterns of a systematic targeting of MSF personnel and activities also emerged throughout
the reference period.531 Already in May 2023, MSF, with medical projects in 10 states in Sudan,
was ‘shaken and appalled’ by the scale of violent attacks, lootings, and occupations against its
premises in various locations in Sudan, notably in Darfur and Khartoum.532 In a brief releasedin September 2023, Insecurity Insight monitored the social media sentiments expressed
towards MSF in the aftermath of the 20 July 2023 incident, whereby an MSF convoy had been
stopped by generic ‘“armed men”’, according to the wording used by MSF’s reporting. The
surveyed sentiments, which reflected mostly the point of view of male supporters of the SAF
and the military government, mainly from Khartoum, consisted of: a) resentment for notnaming the presumed perpetrators, the RSF; b) belief that MSF ‘“deserved”’ to be attacked by
the RSF; c) belief that MSF collaborated with RSF; d) threats of violence against MSF.533
Reporting on the 20 July 2023 incident, MSF spoke about beatings, death threats and theft.534

2.3.

Political opponents

Various REDRESS and OHCHR reports have documented how in the period following the 25
October 2021 coup, the SAF, the RSF, and other intelligence, security and police forces, hadengaged in a systematic campaign to silence political opponents to their rule.535 Under the
proclaimed state of emergency, issued on 24 December 2021,536 security forces have resorted
to arbitrary arrests and detentions,537 also as a way to ‘punish opponents of the coup and to
Insecurity Insight, Sudan’s Doctors Falsely Accused of Siding with the Rapid Support Forces, Social Media
Monitoring, July 2023, url, pp. 1-4
531
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 1, 15 -19 April 2023, url, p. 2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on
Health Care in Sudan no. 2, 19 -26 April 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 3, 27
April – 3 May 2023, url, pp. 1-2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 4, 17 May – 13 June 2023,
url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 5, 14 -27 June 2023, url, pp. 1-2; Insecurity Insight,
Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 7, 12 - 25 July 2023, url, p. 2; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in
Sudan no. 10, 23 August - 5 September 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 13, 4 17 October 2023, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 18, 13 - 26 December 2023, url, p.
1
532
MSF, MSF ‘shaken and appalled’ by looting of its premises in Sudan, 8 June 2023, url
533
Insecurity Insight, Designation of MSF Attackers as “Armed Men” Criticised by SAF Supporters in Sudan,
September 2023, url, pp. 1-3
534
MSF, Khartoum: Aid in jeopardy as MSF staff face beatings, death threats and theft, 21 July 2023, url
535
REDRESS, Ruining a country, devastating its people, September 2023, url, pp. 20, 22; REDRESS, “Taken from
Khartoum’s Streets”, March 2022, url, p. 3; REDRESS, “Your life isn’t worth the price of a bullet”, June 2022, url, pp.
7 ff, 14 ff, 19 ff; OHCHR, Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan, 9 May 2022, url, para. 20-38; OHCHR, Situation of
Human Rights in the Sudan, 12 May 2023, url, para. 24-38
536
OHCHR, Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan, 9 May 2022, url, para. 13-14
537
OHCHR, Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan, 9 May 2022, url, para. 26-38; OHCHR, Situation of Human
Rights in the Sudan, 12 May 2023, url, para. 32-38
530

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

deter others from further activism’.538 The same sources have identified patterns of humanrights violations that include the use of excessive, lethal force against protestors and political
opponents, ill-treatment and torture while in detention, extra-judicial killings, and enforced
disappearances.539
Such practices have continued in the period following the outbreak of the 15-April 2023 war,with SAF and RSF no longer acting in concert, but ‘engaged in similar campaigns targeting
non-combatants they perceive as their opposition – including doctors, journalists, andhumanitarian workers.’540 However, in the war circumstances, the targeting of ‘political
opponents’ started to encompass various additional profiles – e.g. community leaders,lawyers, journalists, resistance committee members and human rights activists - perceived as‘opposed’ by both warring parties in reason of the monitoring work, against violations, they(had) performed before and during the conflict,541 as well as on other grounds.542
The OHCHR indicated that RSF detained individuals perceived to be members or supportersof the SAF, or of the National Congress Party, or in some cases based on ethnic grounds. The
SAF detained individuals perceived to be members or supporters of the RSF, or of the Political
Framework Agreement, or anti-war individuals, as well as based on ethnic affiliation or origin
with Arab tribes from Darfur.543 Corroborating this, Mohamed Salah of the Emergency Lawyer,a legal group monitoring abuses in Sudan,544 indicated that arbitrary arrests and detentions
were justified by each warring party on different grounds: SAF arrested on ethnic grounds –such as members of the Rizeigat, Baggara and other Arab tribes from Darfur – or on politicalgrounds – such as activists and members of the emergency rooms perceived as opposing theIslamists. RSF arrested on political grounds, such as members of the Military Intelligence or of
the National Congress Party, on religious grounds, such as Islamists, or on ethnic grounds,
such as Nuba people.545
For further details relevant to the specific profiles see sections 2.1 Journalists and treatment ofmedia personnel, 2.2 Humanitarian and health personnel, 2.4 Non-Arabs/Africans in Darfur, or
the remainder of this chapter for 2.3.2 Community leaders, lawyers, human rights activists,
2.3.3 Resistance committees’ members, 2.3.4 Political party members and other perceived
opponents.

REDRESS, “Taken from Khartoum’s Streets”, March 2022, url, p. 3
REDRESS, “Your life isn’t worth the price of a bullet”, June 2022, url, pp. 3-4; OHCHR, Situation of Human Rights
in the Sudan, 9 May 2022, url, para. 20-38; OHCHR, Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan, 12 May 2023, url, para.
24-38
540
REDRESS, Ruining a country, devastating its people, September 2023, url, pp. 20-21
541
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 61
542
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 57; The New Arab, In the shadows of Sudan's war, illegal detention sites surge, 25 September 2023, url
543
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 57
544
Human Rights Defenders, Sudanese Human Rights Defenders risk their lives to document the war, 13 March
2024, url
545
The New Arab, In the shadows of Sudan's war, illegal detention sites surge, 25 September 2023, url
538

539

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

2.3.1.
(a)Arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances
Detention conditions

In the course of the hostilities, the already scarce and inadequate detention safeguards
reportedly ceased to apply all-together, with the situation further exacerbated by both forcesusing, but especially the RSF, ‘unacknowledged secret detention centres or ‘“ghost houses”’.
In these locations, used for arbitrary detentions, the risk of torture and enforced
disappearance was ‘heightened’,546 especially in the initial period of detention and during
interrogations according to OHCHR.547
Emergency Lawyers documented at the beginning of September 2023 the presence of atleast 55 temporary or permanent detention centres in wider Khartoum only,548 of which 52
would have been newly established during the previous five months of conflict.549 47 of thesewere affiliated with the RSF - 13 in Khartoum, 12 in Khartoum North, 5 in Sharg El Nil (East Nile),and 17 in Omdurman, in addition to temporary interrogation points in police stations and public
facilities under RSF control. 8 detention facilities were affiliated with the SAF, 3 in Khartoum
and 5 in Omdurman.550 Detainees in these centres were exposed to a number of abuses andissues: torture, forced labour, starvation, sexual assault, collective rooms, lack of hygiene andlatrines, lack of medical services, overcrowding.551 Poor detention conditions and medical
neglect led in some cases to deaths of inmates.552
Mohamed Salah, as quoted by The New Arab, maintained that by September 2023 there
could have been as many as 5 000 detainees in these centres, in wider Khartoum alone.553
Already in July 2024, Reuters quoted human rights organisations stating that, since theoutbreak of the hostilities, the RSF had detained more than 5 000 people in the capitalalone.554 Of these, as of November 2023, over 750 people were held in a single unofficial
place run by the RSF in Al-Riyadh area, in Khartoum.555

REDRESS, Ruining a country, devastating its people, September 2023, url, pp. 20-21
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 59
548
Radio Dabanga, Khartoum ‘one big prison’, people ‘tortured to death’ by Sudan Military Intelligence, 4September 2023, url
549
The New Arab, In the shadows of Sudan's war, illegal detention sites surge, 25 September 2023, url
550Radio Dabanga, Khartoum ‘one big prison’, people ‘tortured to death’ by Sudan Military Intelligence, 4September 2023, url
551
The New Arab, In the shadows of Sudan's war, illegal detention sites surge, 25 September 2023, url; Radio
Dabanga, Khartoum ‘one big prison’, people ‘tortured to death’ by Sudan Military Intelligence, 4 September 2023,
url
552
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 61
553
The New Arab, In the shadows of Sudan's war, illegal detention sites surge, 25 September 2023, url
554
Reuters, Sudan's paramilitary RSF detained 5,000, some tortured, human-rights groups say, 14 july 2023, url
555
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 60
546
547

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024(b)

Enforced disappearances

While enforced disappearance was common in Sudan for decades, especially as a tool tosilence human rights defenders and opposition leaders, the practice skyrocketed since
fighting broke out on 15 April 2023.556
During the reference period, ACJPS reported about several instances of enforced
disappearances on unspecified grounds, and with ‘incommunicado detention significantly[enhancing] vulnerability to torture and other ill-treatment’. ACJPS documented: in June 2023,
the ‘missing’ of 91 people since 15 April 2023; in July 2023, the ‘missing’ of 131 people whowent missing in the month of May 2023; in November 2023, 34 people who went missing in
June 2023 notably from Khartoum and, in some cases from Omdurman; in November 2023,
40 people who went missing in July 2023, notably from Khartoum, and in some cases from
Omdurman.557
Volker Türk, UN Human Rights chief, in a speech made to the Human Rights Council on 12
September 2023, spoke about 500 people reported to have disappeared in Khartoum alone
since fighting broke out.558 By October 2023, ACJPS had registered at least 700 cases ofenforced disappearance, ‘perpetuated’ by both the SAF and the paramilitary RSF.559

2.3.2.

Community leaders, lawyers, human rights activists

The UN Panel of Experts indicated, in its January 2024 report, that it had received reports of‘widespread harassment, physical abuse, arbitrary arrests and detention, torture and killings’
targeting community leaders, lawyers, and human rights activists, among other profiles, suchas journalists and resistance committee members, for which see also ad-hoc sections 2.1
Journalists and treatment of media personnel, and 2.3.3 Resistance committees’ members.
Such acts took place mostly at the hands of RSF and allied militias, but also SAF. The targetingof community leaders, lawyers, and human rights activists was mainly due to their work,‘before and during the conflict’, as monitors, advocates, and reporters against violationscommitted by the warring parties.560 The UNSG, reporting on the activities of UNITAMS,
reported similar practices – threats, detention, and ill-treatment – at the hands of both warring
parties, and against lawyers, human rights defenders, and activists, including anti-war activists,
both in Darfur and in eastern Sudan, the Kordofans and Blue Nile regions.561
Against this backdrop, ACJPS documented in the Blue Nile Region the arrest, detention, andalleged torture of seven human rights defenders and activists by the SAF Military Intelligence

OHCHR, In war-torn Sudan, a sister’s search for a disappeared brother, 8 November 2023, url
ACJPS, Sudan war update: Forty-seven detainees released, hundreds remain in custody, 12 January 2024, url,
pp. 1, 3, 5-6
558
OHCHR, Sudan: Türk says conflict must stop before it is too late to pull the country back from disaster, 12September 2023, url
559
ACJPS, Sudan war update: Forty-seven detainees released, hundreds remain in custody, 12 January 2024, url, p.
6560
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 61, 62, 64
561
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url, para. 28
556
557

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

Unit in the period 8 December 2023 – 14 January 2024.562 In August 2023, in the River Nilestate, Radio Dabanga reported on the arrest at the hands of the Military Intelligence of amember of the Emergency Lawyers.563 In Darfur, ACJPS documented various instances: in
Zalingei, Central Darfur, between October and November 2023, the detention by the RSF offour Sudanese citizens, including three human rights defenders, with the detainees lacking
access to lawyers or family members and likely to undergo torture or ill-treatment;564 in Nyala,South Darfur, the killing of ten political activists and business men at the hands of the RSF,
between 24 October and 6 November 2023.565 Still on Darfur, Sudan War Monitor reported
that at the beginning of February 2024 the RSF had launched an arrest campaign in West andCentral Darfur targeting young peoples and activists ‘on charges of transmitting reports of RSF
violations in the region’.566
Seemingly, ethnically motivated incidents were also reported by various sources, including:
ACJPS, reporting on Al Jazirah, indicated that at the beginning of January 2024 in Wad
Madani ‘Pro-National Congress Party Military Intelligence’ arrested, tortured and allegedly
killed 26 Sudanese citizens originating from Darfur and Kordofan states. Allegedly, the plotbehind the incident, was to ‘steer the conflict into an ethnic one’;567 in August 2023 Radio
Dabanga reported about the arrest of a women teacher in Kadugli, South Kordofan, and thecrackdown, allegedly ethnically and religiously motivated, over other human rights activists in
Kadugli from the African Nuba tribes.568 In Darfur, a sharp deterioration of the human rights
situation, and the targeting of prominent Masalit community members had been noted alreadyin the August 2023 UNITAMS report.569 Lists of ‘prominent Masalit community leaders, humanrights activists, lawyers, teachers and journalists’ were used to guide systematic attacks
against their homes in the context of ethnically motivated and targeted killings at the hand of
RSF and allied militias.570 For more details see section 2.4 Non-Arabs/Africans in Darfur.

2.3.3.

Resistance committees’ members

Sudan’s resistance committees arose in their present form during Sudan’s 2019 revolution andthen ‘spearheaded’ the country’s pro-democracy movement and resistance to military ruleover the subsequent years.571 They comprise a ‘diverse collection of Sudanese pro-democracygroups’, which include political parties, university students and staff, professional associations

ACJPS, Sudan: Seven human rights defenders and activists arrested, detained, and allegedly tortured by the
SAF Military Intelligence Unit in the Blue Nile Region, 20 January 2024, url, pp. 1-2
563
Radio Dabanga, Emergency Lawyers to Sudan intelligence: ‘activists are not the enemy’, 11 August 2023, url
564
ACJPS, Central Darfur: Deep concern for the safety and wellbeing of four Sudanese including HRDs detained in
Zalingi city, 12 January 2024, url, p. 1
565
ACJPS, South Darfur: Urgent call for authorities to investigate the killing of 10 political activists and businessmenin Nyala city, 12 January 2024, url, p. 1
566
Sudan War Monitor, RSF arrest civilians in Kreinek, West Darfur, 17 February 2024, url
567
ACJPS, Al-jazeera state: 26 men arbitrarily arrested and allegedly killed by the Military Intelligence Unit in Wad
Madani, 11 January 2024, url
568
Radio Dabanga, Emergency Lawyers to Sudan intelligence: ‘activists are not the enemy’, 11 August 2023, url
569
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 27
570
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 90,
571
New Internationalist, ‘We are the true voice of the people’: Sudan’s civilian resistance is still alive, 23 May 2023,
url; ICG, The Future of Sudan’s Resistance Committees, 26 July 2023, url; Al Jazeera, Sudan ‘resistance’ activists
mobilise as crisis escalates, 22 April 2023, url
562

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

and unions, and civil society organisations.572 Reportedly, before the starting of the war in April
2023, a network of more than 5 000 resistance committees, organised in neighbourhoods,
had been established in Sudan.573 According to El-Battahani, professor of political science at
the University of Khartoum, resistance committees are the ‘“only force trusted by the generalpublic”’.574
With the outbreak of the April 2023 war, these ‘neighbourhood groups’ have emphasised theneed to ‘stay neutral’,575 and have always insisted on non-violence, thus maintaining ‘theirstatus as citizens and civilians’.576 They have played a crucial role in responding to the needsof the citizens, including for: safety and refuge, providing humanitarian and healthcare
services, and spreading anti-war messaging.577
Targeted already in previous periods,578 under the current circumstances resistancecommittee members reportedly constituted a particularly vulnerable group, for a number ofreasons, including: a) their being vocal against the Sudanese authorities since the 2019 coup,and now again, while often opposing the war; b) their playing a crucial role in the coordinationand delivery of humanitarian aid, especially during the first phase of the conflict, over which
both SAF and RSF then wanted to exert their control; c) their being subject, allegedly, to preemptive arrests to prevent them from being forcibly recruited by the RSF.579
In its February 2024 report, the OHCHR indicated that resistance committees and emergency
rooms members had been detained by both warring parties.580 In May 2023 Radio Dabanga
had already reported about SAF and RSF crackdown on members of the resistancecommittees and other volunteers who helped out in the various ‘emergency rooms’:
reportedly, while the SAF detained them, the RSF abducted them.581 Similar instances werereported on various occasions: in northern Khartoum, at the beginning of May 2023, by army
intelligence officers;582 in Bahri, in May 2023, by uniformed military forces;583 in July 2023 in
Khartoum state, at the hands of RSF;584 in August 2023, in Damazin, the capital of the Blue
Nile State, at the hands of both the General Intelligence Service and the Military Intelligence
The Conversation, Sudan’s people toppled a dictator – despite the war they’re still working to bring about
democratic change, 10 May 2023, url
573
Peoples Dispatch, War in Sudan engulfs agricultural heartland amid record levels of hunger, 1 January 2024, url
574
New Internationalist, ‘We are the true voice of the people’: Sudan’s civilian resistance is still alive, 23 May 2023,
url
575
Al Jazeera, Sudan ‘resistance’ activists mobilise as crisis escalates, 22 April 2023, url
576
The Conversation, Sudan’s people toppled a dictator – despite the war they’re still working to bring about
democratic change, 10 May 2023, url
577
The New Humanitarian, ‘I see it as my duty to help for as long as I can': Sudanese volunteers on supporting
hospitals and opposing the war, 2 June 2023, url; New Internationalist, ‘We are the true voice of the people’:Sudan’s civilian resistance is still alive, 23 May 2023, url; The Conversation, Sudan’s people toppled a dictator –despite the war they’re still working to bring about democratic change, 10 May 2023, url; Al Jazeera, Sudan‘resistance’ activists mobilise as crisis escalates, 22 April 2023, url;
578
OHCHR, Situation of Human Rights in the Sudan, 9 May 2022, url, para. 31
579
REDRESS, Ruining a country, devastating its people, September 2023, url, pp. 22-23; see also The New
Humanitarian, How mutual aid networks are powering Sudan’s humanitarian response, 2 August 2023, url
580
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 58
581
Radio Dabanga, Sudan’s warring parties ‘detain activists, hold volunteers incommunicado’, 19 May 2023, url
582
The Guardian, Sudan medical volunteers detained after being seized from ambulance, 8 May 2023, url583
Houreld, K., and Haroun H., Sudan’s warring factions target doctors and activists, 17 May 2023, url
584
Insecurity Insight, Attacks on Health Care in Sudan no. 8, 26 July – 8 August 2023, August 2023, url, p. 1
572

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

Agency;585 in Omdurman, in October 2023, at the hands of SAF;586 in Hasahisa, in Al Jazirahstate, first in October 2023, at the hands of the Military Intelligence,587 and then by RSF on the
backdrop of the seizure of Wad Madani.588
SAF targeted resistance committees’ members on political grounds, often resorting to illtreatment and tortures, while trying to regain control of humanitarian aid delivery.589 Within thiscontext, at the beginning of January 2024 the governor of the River Nile State issued an orderdisbanding the resistance committees.590 Similar decisions were then taken by the governorsof Northern State, El Gedaref, Sennar, White Nile and North Kordofan. On 16 January 2024,
the Government of Sudan, via the Minister of Federal Governance, issued a decree ‘banning
all grassroots committees in Sudan that have been set up during the revolution or later, during
the war, to help out people in need’. These included: resistance committees, native
administration committees, and committees of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC).591
As a reaction to this, the Wad Madani Resistance Committees rejected in a public statement
the state governor’s decision.592

2.3.4.

Political party members and other perceived opponents

According to Sudan Tribune, Sudanese authorities cracked down on part of the FFC and othercivilian groups opposed to the war,593 while accusing them of collaborating with the RSF.594
The FFC - a coalition of political parties, unions and civil society organisations, reportedly thelargest pro-democracy coalition in the country,595 was supposed to guide Sudan to democratic
governance, together with the SAF and the RSF, after the overthrown of former president
Omar al-Bashir.596 However, the coalition split in two in the course of 2021-2022,597 with:•The FFC – Central Command or Council (FFC-CC): allegedly siding with the RSF,598 andcomprising more than 40 parties, movements and professional groups, signatories of the

Sudan Tribune, Sudanese activists detained following women-led anti-war protest, 30 August 2023, url; ACJPS,
Sudan: Seven human rights defenders and activists arrested, detained, and allegedly tortured by the SAF MilitaryIntelligence Unit in the Blue Nile Region, 20 January 2024, url, pp. 1-2
586
Al Taghyeer, Sudanese Resistance Committees condemn targeting volunteers by military bodies, 20 October
2023, url587
Al Taghyeer, Sudanese Resistance Committees condemn targeting volunteers by military bodies, 20 October
2023, url
588
Peoples Dispatch, War in Sudan engulfs agricultural heartland amid record levels of hunger, 1 January 2024, url
589
Al Jazeera, ‘They’re targeting us’: Sudan’s army cracks down on democracy activists, 9 January 2024, url; Al
Jazeera, Three pro-democracy activists arrested in Sudan, 17 May 2023, url; REDRESS, Ruining a country,
devastating its people, September 2023, url, p. 23590
Al Jazeera, ‘They’re targeting us’: Sudan’s army cracks down on democracy activists, 9 January 2024, url
591
Radio Dabanga, Sudan govt cracks down on grassroots service committees in the entire country, 22 January2024, url
592
Radio Dabanga, Sudan: Wad Madani Resistance Committees defy dissolution order, 26 January 2024, url
593
Sudan Tribune, Sudanese authorities arrest anti-war political leaders, 1 January 2024, url; Sudan Tribune, Arrestof Sudanese doctor sparks outrage and concern, 27 May 2023, url; see also Radio Dabanga, Sudan surgeon
abducted by armed group in Khartoum, 28 May 2023, url
594
Sudan Tribune, Sudanese authorities arrest anti-war political leaders, 1 January 2024, url
595
New Internationalist, ‘We are the true voice of the people’: Sudan’s civilian resistance is still alive, 23 May 2023,
url
596
Al Jazeera, Analysis: Can Sudan’s civilian leaders save their country from collapse?, 29 September 2023, url
597
Sudan in the news, FFC Democratic Bloc Briefing: Is Egypt playing divide-and-rule in Sudan?, 26 March 2023, url
598
Al Jazeera, Analysis: Can Sudan’s civilian leaders save their country from collapse?, 29 September 2023, url
585

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

political framework agreement with the military junta in December 2022.599 On this point,
Expert I, a leading Sudan specialist on political transition and democratisation, noted that
the FFC-CC was blamed, not only by SAF but by Sudanese civil society generally andDarfur rebels, to be pro-RSF or even the RSF political wing. However, this did not apply to
FFC-CC as a whole, since, like many other politicians and civil society in the political centre(Khartoum), they had divided between pro and anti-RSF. Furthermore, FFC-CC as such did
not really exist anymore, having been partly replaced by the group called Taqadum,around ex-prime minister Hamdok.600 Old FFC-CC members include the National Umma
Party (NUP), Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North–Democratic Revolutionary
Movement (DRM), Sudanese Congress Party (SCP), and others.601•

The FFC – Democratic Block (FFC-DB): allegedly siding with the SAF,602 and representinga ‘coalition of pro-coup armed groups and political party factions who reject the frameworkagreement’.603 This coalition included, among others: the Reform and Renewal bloc of the
Umma Party (NUP), the Jaafar Mirghani-led bloc of the Democratic Unionist Party-Jaafar
Mirghani (DUP), the Beja Tribal Council, the Darfur Governor Minni Minnawi’s Sudan
Liberation Movement (SLM-MM), the Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim’s Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM).604

Against this general backdrop, in the course of 2023-2024, there have been reports ofarbitrary arrests and abuse of political party members and leaders at the hands of bothwarring parties. Expert I argued that, indeed, beyond FFC-CC leaders - who are now mostly inexile in the UAE – other members could be targeted by both warring parties, including by RSF,
irrespective of FFC-CC members potential pro-RSF and anti-SAF stance. In particular, heelaborated that RSF members could target them on various grounds: because they comemostly from the political centre, and they are viewed as enemies by RSF troops coming fromthe peripheries; because of their past anti-RSF positioning; or because of current individual
positioning in the conflict.605
At the end of January 2024, Sudan Military Intelligence arrested two members of the Unionist
Alliance in Sennar state, while other members had been arrested in previous months invarious locations across Sudan - including North Kordofan and Al Jazirah - on the backdrop ofa wider arrest campaign against human rights activists and other profiles.606 On 23 January2024, Mohamed Badri, member of the Sudanese Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, was tortured andthen killed in military detention in Khartoum North at the hands of the Military Intelligence.607
On 19 January 2024, in eastern Khartoum, the residence of Haisam Dafallah - editor-in-chief ofRadio Dabanga, Sudan’s long-awaited framework agreement signed between military and civilian bodies, 6
December 2022, url
600
Expert I, email exchange, 16 April 2024
601
Radio Dabanga, Sudan’s FFC-CC meet in Cairo, 25 July 2023, url
602
Al Jazeera, Analysis: Can Sudan’s civilian leaders save their country from collapse?, 29 September 2023, url
603
Sudan in the news, FFC Democratic Bloc Briefing: Is Egypt playing divide-and-rule in Sudan?, 26 March 2023,
url; Sudan in the news, Will the framework agreement in Sudan lead to democracy?, 25 March 2023, url
604
Sudan in the news, FFC Democratic Bloc Briefing: Is Egypt playing divide-and-rule in Sudan?, 26 March 2023,
url; Al Jazeera, Analysis: Can Sudan’s civilian leaders save their country from collapse?, 29 September 2023, url
605
Expert I, email exchange, 16 April 2024
606
Sudan Tribune, Sudan’s Unionist Alliance condemns arbitrary arrest of two of its members, 30 January 2024, url
607
Radio Dabanga, Death of Sudanese politician ‘deliberately withheld by Military Intelligence’, 24 January 2024,
url
599

77

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUMEl Midan and spokesperson of the Communist Party of Sudan (CPoS) - was stormed by RSF,
who apprehended him and his brother.608 Still in mid-January 2024, RSF paramilitaries
arrested Abdeljalil El Basha, assistant to the president of the National Umma Party (NUP), in
old Omdurman; on the same day Military Intelligence officers detained El Tayeb Mohamed
Ahmed, a member of the NUP executive office in White Nile state in Kosti.609 On 1 January2024, the Military Intelligence arrested Sattea al-Haj, the head of the Nasserist Party, upon his
arrival in Port Sudan. On 30 December 2024, Military Intelligence arrested two leaders of the
Sudanese Congress Party in Port Sudan.610

2.4.

Non-Arabs/Africans in Darfur

2.4.1.

Background

Darfur’s overall population is contested, with estimates ranging from around 6 million611 to 9.5
million people.612 According to Sean Ofahey, this population is ‘approximately 2/3 to 3/4“African” and 1/3 to 1/4 “Arab”’. Reportedly everybody in Darfur is Muslim of the Maliki
madhhab [school of thought], including a high proportion of adherents of the different
branches of the Tijaniyya tariqa [Sufi doctrine or path of spiritual learning]. According to thesame author, ‘who is “African” and who “Arab” is ultimately a matter of self-ascription’.613
Alex de Waal, an internationally reputed expert on Sudan, maintains that Darfur’s complex
identities have been radically and traumatically simplified, creating a polarised ‘Arab versus
African’ dichotomy, that has gone hand in hand with the militarisation of Darfur, the creation of
militias and the communal violence that ensued.614
Within this context, according to Sudan expert Reeves, the non-Arab population began to
identify as ‘African’ more decisively after 2003, when the war in Darfur broke out. The Arab
population may have felt ‘more Arab’, but identity was not so dramatically transformed,
especially among the Arab tribes that wanted no part of the violence.615
Approximately 80 different tribes live in Darfur.616

Radio Dabanga, Sudan activists denounce RSF’s ‘arbitrary detention’ of El Midan editor-in-chief, 22 January2024, url
609
Radio Dabanga, Sudan Armed Forces advance in Omdurman, politicians detained by RSF and army, 16 January2024, url
610
Sudan Tribune, Sudanese authorities arrest anti-war political leaders, 1 January 2024, url
611
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024; Yifei, G., A Study of Tribal Composition and Conflict in
Darfur, 2020, url, p. 236
612
de Waal, A., The Conflict in Darfur, Sudan: Background and Overview, February 2022, url, para. 6
613
Ofahey, S., Ethnic Identity in Darfur, 7 April 2009, url
614
de Waal, A., Who are the Darfurians? Arab and African Identities, Violence and External Engagement, 10
December 2004, url
615
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
616
Yifei, G., A Study of Tribal Composition and Conflict in Darfur, 2020, url, p. 1; University of South Florida, Digital
Exhibits, Parties in the Darfur Conflict, 2009, url
608

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024(a)Arab ‘identity’

Almost 30 different tribes in Darfur consider themselves Arab, including the Rizeigat, Beni
Halba, Ta’aisha, Habbaniya, Ziyaddiya, Fulbe, Ja’aliyin, Misseriya, Djawama, Beni Helba,
Meidob Habania,617 and Salamat.618
The Rizeigat is the largest and most powerful among the Arab tribes of Darfur. It comprises
two groups: 1) the predominantly camel-herding Northern Rizeigat, based mainly in North
Darfur state but with branches in other parts of Darfur; 2) the mainly cattle-herding Southern
Rizeigat. The Rizeigat are divided into various branches, with the largest being the Mahamid,
Mahariya, and Nawaiba,619 which are common to both macro-groups.620 Hemedti is a member
the Awlad Mansour branch of the Mahariya section of the Northern Rizeigat, resident in South
Darfur since the late 1980s.621(b)

Non-Arab/African ‘identity’

The largest ‘non-Arab/African’ ethnic/tribal groups in Darfur are the Fur, the Zaghawa and theMasalit. 622
The word ‘“Dar”’ as in ‘“Darfur”’ – ‘“‫ ”دار‬in Arabic’ - is translated as ‘“homeland”’,623 or as‘domain of the Fur’.624 Until 1916 the Fur were ruled by an independent sultanate. The Fur are a
Nilo-Saharan speaking, Islamic sedentary-farming people and represent the majority group in
Darfur.625 They are the predominant group in Jebel Marra, Wadi Salih, and Zalingei.626
The Masalit, also known as the Massalat, are a non-Arab ethnic tribe predominantly
constituted by farmers. They speak Maba languages from the Nilo-Saharan language family.627
The Masalit inhabit large areas of present-day West Darfur, including the capital El Geneina,
which is considered their historical homeland, and roughly correspond to the boundaries ofancient Dar Masalit Sultanate.628 Masalit also inhabit part of Southern Darfur.629
The Zaghawa are a semi-nomadic non-Arab ethnic group, speaking Zaghawa and herding
cattle, sheep, and camels for their livelihoods.630 As Sudan expert Jérôme Tubiana put it, ‘inmany ways, Zaghawa culture is closer to the Abbala Arabs than to the Fur and the Masalit.
University of South Florida, Digital Exhibits, Parties in the Darfur Conflict, 2009, url
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
619
de Waal, A., Who are the Darfurians? Arab and African Identities, Violence and External Engagement, 10
December 2004, url
620
Flint, J., The Other War: Inter-Arab Conflict in Darfur, October 2010, url, p. 14
621
Flint, J., The Other War: Inter-Arab Conflict in Darfur, October 2010, url, p. 10; see also ADF, Conflict EnflamesHistoric Ethnic Tensions in West Darfur, 18 July 2023, url
622
Reeves, E., email exchange, 12 January 2024
623
Yifei, G., A Study of Tribal Composition and Conflict in Darfur, 2020, url, p. 236
624
de Waal, A., Who are the Darfurians? Arab and African Identities, Violence and External Engagement, 10
December 2004, url
625
WFP, Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project (SESNP) (P178989), August 2022, url, p. 21
626
HRW, Report Sudan 2004 - Background, url
627
WFP, Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project (SESNP) (P178989), August 2022, url, p. 21
628
UN Sudan, West Darfur Peace Building Assessment, June 2021, url, p. 4; see also HRW, Report Sudan 2004 Background, url
629
WFP, Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project (SESNP) (P178989), August 2022, url, p. 21
630
WFP, Sudan Emergency Safety Nets Project (SESNP) (P178989), August 2022, url, p. 22
617

618

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

They see themselves primarily as breeders, and traditionally favoured cattle’ although recent
developments have ‘led many to favour camels’. However, differently from Abbala, they havetraditional land rights: ‘there is a Dar Zaghawa or “Zaghawa country”, which in Zaghawa
language is Beri be or “house of the Beri”’,631 and that for the Sudan part extends from the
Chadian border to the rural areas between El-Fasher, Kutum and Mellit.632
Other significant ‘non-Arab/African’ tribal groups include the Tunjur, Berti, Meidob, Dajo,
Bargo, Barno, Gimir, and the Tama.633 The Fellata (also Fallata) is the name given in Sudan to
Pula people, speaking Fulani, originally from West and Central Africa. They are nomadic cattle
breeders, in some regions close to Baggara Arab communities, and they are partly
Arabised.634
Sudan expert Reeves noted that ‘very few of the non-Arab tribes speak their tribal language
as a primary language, rather they speak Arabic, the lingua franca of the region. Some nonArabs have no command of their tribal language’.635(c)Baggara versus Abbala

Another important identifier in Darfur is the distinction between Baggara and Abbala. Nomads
in Darfur are divided between Baggara, cattle-herding pastoralists, and Abbala, camel-herding
pastoralists.636 Pastoralist nomads are scattered throughout the Darfur region, but they can begrouped into four main sub-groups:637
1)

The Baggara of South Darfur is the dominant pastoralist group in South Darfur andoccupies what is historically known as Dar Baggara.638
2) The Rizeigat Abbala of North Darfur live on the fringe of Northern Darfur and are divided
into five subclans: the Mahameed, the Mahriyya, the Iraigat, the Itaifat and Aulad Rashid.
They are the only substantial tribe in Darfur that has no Dar.639
3) The pastoralist groups of the West Darfur in both Jebel Marra and Dar Masalit, have since
time immemorial also included streams of immigrants coming from Darfur’s western borderwith Chad. These pastoralist groups comprise different tribes; however, they can begenerally clustered into two main groups: Reziegat and non Reziegat.640
4) The Zaghawa Pastoralist reside in North Darfur, along with the Zayadia and Medobtribes.641

Tubiana, J., Land and Power: the Case of the Zaghawa, 28 May 2008, url; see also Tubiana, J. et al, Traditional
authorities peace-making role in Darfur, url, pp. 15-16
632
Tubiana, J., email exchange, 19 March 2024
633
Reeves, E., email exchange, 12 January 2024
634
Tubiana, J., email exchange, 19 March 2024
635
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
636
Abbas, R., The War to Take Over West Darfur and its Capital, Al-Geneina, 26 September 2023, url
637
Takana, Y., Darfur Pastoralists Groups: New Opportunities for Change and Peace Building, 2012, url, p. 4
638
Takana, Y., Darfur Pastoralists Groups: New Opportunities for Change and Peace Building, 2012, url, p. 5
639
Takana, Y., Darfur Pastoralists Groups: New Opportunities for Change and Peace Building, 2012, url, p. 8
640
Takana, Y., Darfur Pastoralists Groups: New Opportunities for Change and Peace Building, 2012, url, pp. 9-10
641
Takana, Y., Darfur Pastoralists Groups: New Opportunities for Change and Peace Building, 2012, url, p. 11
631

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Against this backdrop, the inter-Arab pastoralists fighting opposing Abbala and Baggara has
been a common occurrence in Darfur’s recent history.642(d)Conflict drivers

Land and resources disputes have been historically a major conflict driver in Darfur.643 Tubiana
noted in 2009 that one of the primary traits of the 2003 Darfur crisis was the split between
those members of the population with territories (hawakir) - due to traditional, mainly precolonial land rights - and those who had none – a split which does not exactly correspond to
the ethnic divisions between non-Arabs and Arabs.644
However, as noted above, ‘by the time non-Arab groups led by the Fur, Zaghawa, and Masalit
declared themselves in rebellion against the government in 2003, Darfur’s complex identities
had been simplified to an ‘African’ versus ‘Arab’ dichotomy that itself became a driver ofconflict’, as Flint put it.645
This polarisation was nurtured, among others, by an Arab supremacist ideology, according tosources.646 Already in 2004 de Waal noted that such ‘Arab supremacism’ was manifest in a
racist vocabulary and in sexual violence. Examples were: the term zurug that had long beenused in the casual racism of Arabs in Darfur; the term abid, used traditionally by the riverain
elites to refer to all Darfurians, and then adopted by some Arab to refer to non-Arab
Darfurians; the widespread use of rape as ‘means of identity destruction or transformation’.647
Within this context the ethnic targeting of the Masalit predates the April 2023 outbreak of thehostilities.648

2.4.2.

TargetingEthnically motivated killings have been perpetrated in Darfur, and notably in West Darfur, eversince the outbreak of the war in April 2023. Non-Arab/African groups, and notably Masalit,

Flint, J., The Other War: Inter-Arab Conflict in Darfur, October 2010, url, pp. 7, 9-10, 12
Abbas, R., The War to Take Over West Darfur and its Capital, Al-Geneina, 26 September 2023, url; Yifei, G., A
Study of Tribal Composition and Conflict in Darfur, 2020, url, p. 237; ACAPS, Sudan – West Darfur pre-crisis profile,
18 July 2023, url, p. 7
644
Tubiana, J., Land and Power: the Case of the Zaghawa, 28 May 2008, url; see also Tubiana, J. et al, Traditional
authorities peace-making role in Darfur, 8 November 2012, url, pp. 15-19; Flint, J., The Other War: Inter-Arab Conflictin Darfur, October 2010, url, p. 11
645
Flint, J., The Other War: Inter-Arab Conflict in Darfur, October 2010, url, p. 9646
Eltayeb A. F., Op ed: Sudan’s Hemeti, the criminal who’s winning the diplomacy war, 23 February 2024, url; deWaal, A., Who are the Darfurians? Arab and African Identities, Violence and External Engagement, 10 December
2004, url; Flint, J., The Other War: Inter-Arab Conflict in Darfur, October 2010, url, p. 9647
de Waal, A., Who are the Darfurians? Arab and African Identities, Violence and External Engagement, 10
December 2004, url
648
Abbas, R., The War to Take Over West Darfur and its Capital, Al-Geneina, 26 September 2023, url
642
643

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

have been targeted by the RSF and allied Arab militias.649 Among others, the Burgo,650 theEringa and the Tama have reportedly been targeted by RSF violence.651 The main ethnic
groups in West Darfur are the Rizeigat - the Arab tribes - and the Masalit, while other ethnic
groups in West Darfur include the Dajo, Borgo, Erenga, Fur, Gimir, and Zaghawa.652
El Geneina administration leader, Omda Salih Hasan, quoted by various sources, indicated,
however, that Masalit were not the only target, rather that ‘“all ethnicities that did not join theJanjaweed are targeted… including Arab tribesmen”’.653
Against this general backdrop, the UN Panel of Experts on Sudan reported, in its January2024 report, that RSF, and ‘sometimes’ the SAF, ‘harassed, arbitrarily arrested, detained andtortured civilians’ in various Darfur capitals ‘upon suspicion’ that they were aligned with the
opposing warring party due to their ethnicity. This impacted both African and Arab
communities.654 ACJPS, reported for instance that in December 2023, in West Darfur, nine
Sudanese men - tuk-tuk drivers - were arbitrarily arrested and tortured by the RSF and allied
militia in Azrni because they were suspected of working for the SAF.655(a)

Major ethnically motivated large-scale killings in West Darfur and elsewhere

The UN Panel of Experts on Sudan reported that in West Darfur, and notably in El Geneina,
Sirba, Murnei, and Masteri RSF and allied militias targeted the Masalit community.656 While
West Darfur has been the epicentre of the violence against non-Arab communities alreadysince 2019,657 in the period 15 April 2023 – January 2024, reported major ‘ethnic cleansing’
events took place in:

HRW, Fighting Devastates Sudan’s West Darfur, 1 May 2023, url; UN News, Sudan: Attacks based on ethnicity
may amount to war crimes, 13 June 2023, url; HRW, Sudan: Tackle Spiralling Violence in West Darfur, 21 June 2023,
url; Radio Dabanga, ‘Ethnic cleansing’ continues in West Darfur, 5 July 2023, url; HRW, Sudan: Darfur Town
Destroyed, 11 July 2023, url; Reuters, Ethnically targeted violence worsens in Sudan's Darfur, rights monitors say, 11
July 2023, url; ADF, Conflict Enflames Historic Ethnic Tensions in West Darfur, 18 July 2023, url; HRW, Sudan: New
Attacks in Darfur, 4 August 2023, url; REDRESS, Ruining a country, devastating its people, September 2023, url, pp.
25-26; BBC, Sudan conflict: Ethnic cleansing committed in Darfur, UK says, 18 October 2023, url; BBC, Sudan
conflict: Thousands flee fresh ethnic killings in Darfur, 8 November 2023, url; Reuters, Darfur refugees report new
spate of ethnically driven killings, 8 November 2023, url; Politico, UN sounds alarm on Darfur, warns world not torepeat history, 11 November 2023, url; RFi, EU 'appalled' by reports of 1,000 killed in Darfur, fearing ethnic
cleansing, 13 November 2023, url; HRW, Darfur Civilians in Jeopardy, 13 November 2023, url; People Dispatch,
Ethnic cleansing of West Darfur’s El Geneina culminates in largest massacre since onset of war in Sudan, 14
November 2023, url; CNN, ‘They called me a slave’: Witness testimony exposes alleged RSF-led campaign toenslave men and women in Sudan, 20 November 2023, url; Al Jazeera, Fears of all-out ethnic war rise in Sudan’s
Darfur, 22 November 2023, url; Ayin network, Ardamata: One of the deadliest attack yet, 23 November 2023, url;
HRW, Sudan: New Mass Ethnic Killings, Pillage in Darfur, 26 November 2023, url; see also Tubiana, J. and Craze, J.,
Darfur: The New Massacres, 10 February 2024, url
650
Sudan Conflict Observatory, Evidence consistent with alleged body disposal in El-Geneina, Report 010, 14
September 2023, url, pp. 4, 6, 9
651
HRW, Sudan: New Mass Ethnic Killings, Pillage in Darfur, 26 November 2023, url
652
ACAPS, Sudan – West Darfur pre-crisis profile, 18 July 2023, url, p. 4653
Radio Dabanga, ‘Ethnic cleansing’ continues in West Darfur, 5 July 2023, url; ADF, Conflict Enflames Historic
Ethnic Tensions in West Darfur, 18 July 2023, url
654
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 63
655
ACJPS, West Darfur: Nine Sudanese men arbitrarily arrested and tortured by RSF and allied militia in Azrni, 2February 2024, url, p. 1
656
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, p. 1
657
HRW, Sudan: New Attacks in Darfur, 4 August 2023, url
649

82SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024•

El Geneina, as from 24 April 2023 when fighting between the various armed forces first‘erupted’.658 As a consequence of a ‘systematic and coordinated cleansing campaign’ at
the hands of RSF and Arab militias that targeted the Masalit for weeks, as of June 2023,
the estimated death toll was 4 000 people, with 10 000 injured, and 1,8 square kilometresof destruction. UNHCR estimates, quoted by Reuters, indicated that 290 000 people fled
to Chad.659 The emergence of ‘new’ mass graves has been documented and reported byvarious sources,660 more than 30 according to community leaders quoted by Radio
Dabanga,661 13 according to UN reports quoted by Reuters.662•

Misterei, on 28 May 2023, when RSF fighters and Arab militias attacked the town, home totens of thousands of mainly ethnic Masalit residents;663 according to local officials quoted
by HRW, 97 people were later confirmed to have been killed, including at least 40 civilians,
and 14 civilians were injured. Thousands of residents fled across the border to Chad.664•

Sirba and Murnei, in late July 2023, where extensive residential areas were burned to theground;665 the attack on Sirba, and its almost complete razing to the ground,666 led to an
estimated death toll of 460 people, with 5 382 people seeking refuge in the Chadianborder area in the following days.667•

Ardamata, at the beginning of November 2023, when RSF took over the SAF military basein town,668 and also attacked local IDP camps and neighbourhoods - Ardamata and Dorti,
as well as the Al-Kabri neighbourhood.669 These attacks caused scores of civilian deaths:
between 1 300 and 2 000 according to local sources,670 an estimated 1 335 IDPs
according to another source,671 800 people, primarily Masalit, according to UNHCR
estimates quoted by Ayin network.672 Adding to these estimates, Al Jazirah spoke about 2000 injured and 310 missing.673 Ardamata had previously become an IDP destination for

HRW, Fighting Devastates Sudan’s West Darfur, 1 May 2023, url; UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on
the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 69-72
659
Reuters, The Slaughter of El Geneina, How Arab fighters carried out a rolling ethnic massacre in Sudan, 22
September 2023, url
660
Sudan Conflict Observatory, Evidence consistent with alleged body disposal in El-Geneina, Report 010, 14
September 2023, url; Reuters, The Slaughter of El Geneina, How Arab fighters carried out a rolling ethnic massacrein Sudan, 22 September 2023, url; UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January2024, url, para. 96
661
Radio Dabanga, More mass graves found in West Darfur, RSF accused of demolishing camps, 14 August 2023,
url
662
Reuters, Credible reports of at least 13 mass graves in Darfur, UN says, 14 September 2023, url
663
HRW, Sudan: Darfur Town Destroyed, 11 July 2023, url
664
HRW, Sudan: Darfur Town Destroyed, 11 July 2023, url
665
HRW, Sudan: New Attacks in Darfur, 4 August 2023, url
666
Sudan Conflict Observatory, Sirba, West Darfur, 24 July - 30 July, 2023, Report 008, 2 August 2023, url, pp. 4, 7
667
Radio Dabanga, Tragic stories from Sirba as violence in West Darfur spreads, 1 August 2023, url
668
Reuters, Darfur refugees report new spate of ethnically driven killings, 8 November 2023, url; HRW, Sudan: New
Mass Ethnic Killings, Pillage in Darfur, 26 November 2023, url; UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the
Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 74-75
669
Ayin network, Ardamata: One of the deadliest attack yet, 23 November 2023, url
670
Middle East Eye, Sudan: 'At least 1,300' killed in new massacre in West Darfur's el-Geneina, 12 November 2023,
url
671
People Dispatch, Ethnic cleansing of West Darfur’s El Geneina culminates in largest massacre since onset of war
in Sudan, 14 November 2023, url
672
Ayin network, Ardamata: One of the deadliest attack yet, 23 November 2023, url
673
Al Jazeera, ‘Corpses on streets’: Sudan’s RSF kills 1,300 in Darfur, monitors say, 10 November 2023, url
658

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

Darfuri fleeing the conflict and ethnic cleansing in El Geneina.674 As a consequence of theattack, the UN indicated that about 8 000 people fled into Chad,675 as also quoted by Ayin
network.676 Still Ayin, reporting testimonies from the event, who had then relocated to the
André camp in Eastern Chad, spoke about ‘genocide’, arbitrary detentions of hundreds ofpeople, extrajudicial killings, and body mutilations.677
Satellite imagery and fire detection data showed that, during the reference period, many othervillages and locations in Darfur had been targeted. Such attacks took place on the backdrop
of RSF military operations that led to the seizure of key cities such as the Darfuri capitals of El
Daein, Nyala, El Geneina, and Zalingei until October 2023.678 Based on this, satellite imagery
affected locations across Darfur include: a) Molle, Habilla Kanari, Gokor, Mejmerevin West
Darfur;679 b) 27 ‘population centres’ across Darfur, which have been ‘razed’ and ‘destroyed’ asof December 2023;680 c) 68 villages across Darfur, as documented by the Centre forInformation Resilience (CIR), a research body partly funded by the British government, as of
October 2023.681(b)Sudanese movement towards Chad and border challenges

As a consequence of the military operations and ethnically motivated attacks, the number of
Sudanese682 - notably Masalit from West Darfur -,683 that have fled into Chad is 542 204 as of
29 January 2024 according to UNHCR data.684 At the same time, in various accounts Masalitcommunities have been reported to face difficulties crossing the border into Chad: sourcesindicate that members of the Masalit ethnic group were prevented by gunmen at the borderfrom leaving the country,685 and that their tribal background was inquired.686(c)Official declarations

Various official declarations labelled the events unfolding in Darfur as ‘ethnic cleansing’
campaigns,687 sometimes as part of ‘infighting between rival Arab groups, other times [as] Arab
Ayin network, Ardamata: One of the deadliest attack yet, 23 November 2023, url
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 98
676
Ayin network, Ardamata: One of the deadliest attack yet, 23 November 2023, url
677
Ayin network, Stories of survival: Testimonies from RSF detention centres, 21 February 2024, url
678
Sudan Conflict Observatory, Conflict update and observed violence against civilians in Darfur, December 2023,
url, p. 4
679
HRW, Sudan: Darfur Town Destroyed, 11 July 2023, url
680
Sudan Conflict Observatory, Conflict update and observed violence against civilians in Darfur, December 2023,
url, p. 6; Sudan Conflict Observatory, Sirba, West Darfur, 24 July - 30 July, 2023, Report 008, 2 August 2023, url,
p.4
681
BBC, Sudan conflict: Ethnic cleansing committed in Darfur, UK says, 18 October 2023, url
682
Radio Dabanga, ‘Ethnic cleansing’ continues in West Darfur, 5 July 2023, url
683
HRW, Sudan: Tackle Spiralling Violence in West Darfur, 21 June 2023, url; HRW, Sudan: Darfur Town Destroyed,
11 July 2023, url; Reuters, Ethnically targeted violence worsens in Sudan's Darfur, rights monitors say, 11 July 2023,
url; HRW, Sudan: New Attacks in Darfur, 4 August 2023, url
684
UNHCR, Sudan Situation, External update #46, 24-31 January 2024, 2 February 2024, url, p. 2
685
ADF, Conflict Enflames Historic Ethnic Tensions in West Darfur, 18 July 2023, url; Radio Dabanga, ‘Ethnic
cleansing’ continues in West Darfur, 5 July 2023, url
686
Radio Dabanga, Horrifying testimonies on West Darfur ethnic targeting as other Masalit Sultan relative is killed,
19 June 2023, url
687
BBC, Sudan conflict: Ethnic cleansing committed in Darfur, UK says, 18 October 2023, url; RFi, EU 'appalled' byreports of 1,000 killed in Darfur, fearing ethnic cleansing, 13 November 2023, url; EEAS, Sudan: Statement by the
674

675

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

fighters targeting non-Arabs, like the Masalit’.688 These declarations included those from theEuropean Union's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell,689
the UK Minister for Africa, Andrew Mitchell,690 and the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken,
who determined, in a press statement from 6 December 2023, that ‘members of the RSF andallied militias have committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing’. 691(d)State protection and rule of law

For information on the level of state protection, rule of law, and the administration of justice atcountry level and more specifically in Darfur see section 1.1.3(f) State protection, rule of law,and administration of justice.

2.5.

Women and girls

2.5.1.

Sexual violence and conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan

A study conducted by UNFPA already in 2020, found that sexual assault and rape were an
issue of concern among the study respondents. The study was based on the assessment of
236 focus group discussions that surveyed more than 2 000 respondents across all 18
states.692 While prevalence data were missing, the study found that 19 % of the respondents‘perceived sexual violence as the most common incident happening in their community’,693
same as for domestic violence, also at 19 %.694
Locations reportedly particularly prone to sexual violence included: farming areas, water
points, firewood collecting areas, military areas, abandoned or otherwise remote areas, IDP
camp settings, and informal workplaces, including domestic ones.695 Instances of sexual
violence were often triggered by racial or tribal dynamics.696 Sources also agree that sexual
violence goes unreported in Sudan, mainly due to fear of stigma and shame,697 orunderreported out of fear of retaliation, low awareness of gender-based violence (GBV) andreporting mechanisms, or difficulties in accessing the services.698

High Representative on the atrocities in Ardamta Darfur, 12 November 2023, url; US Department of State, War
Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Ethnic Cleansing Determination in Sudan, 6 December 2023, url
688
BBC, Sudan conflict: Ethnic cleansing committed in Darfur, UK says, 18 October 2023, url
689
RFi, EU 'appalled' by reports of 1,000 killed in Darfur, fearing ethnic cleansing, 13 November 2023, url
690
BBC, Sudan conflict: Ethnic cleansing committed in Darfur, UK says, 18 October 2023, url
691
US Department of State, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, and Ethnic Cleansing Determination in Sudan, 6
December 2023, url
692
UNFPA, Voices from Sudan 2020, 2 August 2021, url, p. 8
693
UNFPA, Voices from Sudan 2020, 2 August 2021, url, pp. 16-17
694
UNFPA, Voices from Sudan 2020, 2 August 2021, url, p. 34
695
UNFPA, Voices from Sudan 2020, 2 August 2021, url, pp. 16-17; see also Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related
Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 7
696
UNFPA, Voices from Sudan 2020, 2 August 2021, url, pp. 16-17; see also
697
Rights for Peace, Sudan Study on the status of and opportunities for reparations for survivors of conflict-related
sexual violence, October 2023, url, p. 21; UNFPA, Voices from Sudan 2020, 2 August 2021, url, p. 17
698
UNHCR, Protection Brief Gender Based Violence, Sudan Situation, December 2023, url, pp. 5, 8

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Within this context, sexual violence has also been historically used as a ‘weapon of war’ by allparties to the various conflicts in Sudan.699 While conflict related sexual violence (CRSV)
affects all genders and backgrounds, women and girls are the primary victims in Sudan, withgirls below 18 years of age being the majority among them.700
Drivers of CRSV are diverse and vary across time and country regions. CRSV can be: a) raciallymotivated, and used as an ethnic cleansing tool targeting women from ‘“African tribes”’, suchas Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa in Darfur, or Nubans in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan,
often at the hands of the Janjaweed or the RSF; b) conflict motivated, and used bygovernment forces, RSF and Janjaweed, against so called ‘rebel groups’ or committed during
clashes between non-state armed groups, including on IDP women or around IDP camps; c)politically motivated, and used by government security forces, notably in Khartoum, against
political opponents and democracy or human rights activists; d) socio-culturally motivated, andused by police and militia gangs over IDP camps to breed fear and dominance.701

2.5.2.

Conflict-related sexual violence as from April 2023

Against this general backdrop, already in June 2023 the GBV humanitarian Sub-Sector noted
trends and patterns of heightened levels of gender-based violence (GBV) and sexual genderbased violence (SGBV) in Sudan.702 By then, since the outbreak of the war in April 2023, thenumber of people in need of GBV services in Sudan had reportedly increased by over 1
million, to reach 4.2 million people in total.703 Among the most pressing concerns for womenand girls, the GBV sector indicated: a) increased levels of risk of GBV in conflict affected areas;b) increased levels of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA); c) increased needs for urgent
women- and girls-friendly services, with women being the majority of IDPs in many locations
across the country; d) lack of safety of the humanitarian response for women and girls.704
A few months later, at the end of January 2024, as reported by UNOCHA in its 4 February
situation report, the protection of civilians remained a key issue of concern in Sudan, including
for women and girls, because of the increased number of reports of sexual and gender-based
violence (SGBV), as well as of enforced disappearances, among other violations.705 SuchACJPS, SGBV: A Tool Used to Instil Fear in Sudan's Armed Conflict, 12 January 2024, url, p. 1; Rights for Peace,
Sudan Study on the status of and opportunities for reparations for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence,
October 2023, url, p. 17
700
Rights for Peace, Sudan Study on the status of and opportunities for reparations for survivors of conflict-related
sexual violence, October 2023, url, p. 17
701
Rights for Peace, Sudan Study on the status of and opportunities for reparations for survivors of conflict-related
sexual violence, October 2023, url, pp. 17-20
702
The Gender-Based Violence Area of Responsibility Sudan (GBV Sub-Sector Sudan), with UNFPA as lead agency
on GBV in emergencies, is coordinating the humanitarian response to GBV for those in humanitarian need,including internally displaced populations (IDPs), within Sudan.
703
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Crisis Continues: Situation Brief Update, 16 June 2023, url, p. 1
704
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Crisis Continues: Situation Brief Update, 16 June 2023, url, p. 2
705
UNOCHA, Sudan Situation Report, 4 February 2024, url, pp. 5, 8, 11
699

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

violations included the use of rape as a weapon of war,706 as also documented by various
media outlets,707 including against teenage girls between 12 and 17 years old.708
Several studies, which surveyed women’s situation in the period following the outbreak of thehostilities in April 2023, agreed in identifying a surge in the number of reported cases of GBVand SGBV across Sudan,709 including during women’s flight, in transit areas or temporary
shelters.710 The UN Panel of Experts on Sudan reported 262 rape cases over the period AprilAugust 2023.711 SIHA, an indigenous African women’s rights network,712 was able to document
and verify 117 instances of sexual assault in the period 15 April - 31 December 2023,713 while it
had received 96 confirmed cases of rape or gang rape in the period April-early October
2023,714 which reportedly had raised to 180 a few weeks later.715 Government sources, quoted
by Insecurity Insight, reported 88 verified incidents of CRSV in the period April-July 2023,716
which increased to 142 in mid-January 2024 as reported by Radio Dabanga.717 CARE reported
an imprecise number of rape cases based on qualitative information gathered across fourstates, Khartoum, Al Jazirah, East Darfur and South Darfur.718 OHCHR received 58 credible
reports of CRSV in the period 15 April – 15 December 2023.719
However, sources also agreed that on the backdrop of the on-going hostilities, the historical
underreporting of instances of GBV – see section 2.5.1 Sexual violence and conflict-related
sexual violence in Sudan for further details - was further exacerbated by various factors,720

UNOCHA, Sudan Situation Report, 4 February 2024, url, p. 11; CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum,
Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, pp. 23; SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds –Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October 2023, url, p. 7; ACJPS, SGBV: A Tool Used to Instil
Fear in Sudan's Armed Conflict, 12 January 2024, url, p. 1
707
Al Jazeera, 'Don’t let the other soldiers watch': Rape as weapon in Sudan war, 14 August 2023, url; The
Telegraph, Sexual violence in Sudan conflict becomes as commonplace as the fighting, 10 January 2024, url
708
Save the Children, Sudan: Children as young as 12 raped and assaulted, as sexual violence rips through thecountry, 7 July 2023, url; Darfur Follow-Ups, Children of war in Sudan…lost dreams and an unknown fate, 14
December 2023, url
709
UN WOMEN, Initial Rapid Gender Assessment, September 2023, url, pp. 2, 25; CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis,
Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, pp. 6, 23-24; UNSC, Final report of the
Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 65, 85; SIHA Network, Silent weapons,
loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October 2023, url, pp. 3-4, 7-8; UNHCR,
Protection Brief Gender Based Violence, Sudan Situation, December 2023, url, pp. 4-5
710
UNHCR, Protection Brief Gender Based Violence, Sudan Situation, December 2023, url, pp. 4-5; Insecurity
Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 2
711
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 65;
712
SIHA Network, Our story, n.a, url
713
Fikra for Studies and Development, Unbreakable – Sudanese women struggle against conflict related sexual
violence amid the war, 8 March 2024, url, p. 14
714
SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October
2023, url, p. 7
715
Sudan Tribune, Sudan conflict fuels sexual violence against women, says SIHA, 1 February 2024, url
716
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 1
717
Radio Dabanga, Sudan: Two new GBV cases in El Gezira, 18 January 2024, url
718
CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, pp. 8,
23-24
719
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 46
720
Fikra, Unbreakable – Sudanese women struggle against conflict related sexual violence amid the war, 8 March
2024, url, p. 20-25; CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October
2023, url, p. 24
706

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

including limited communications and lack of connectivity,721 lack of security,722 targeting ofreporting news outlets,723 fuel or electricity shortages,724 lack of documentation work in ruraland remote contexts,725 fear of retribution in areas still controlled by ‘perpetrators’, notably in
Darfur, breakdown of the health system.726 For instance, the Sudanese Unit for Combating
Violence against Women (CVAW), a government unit, was quoted by various sources statingthat the verified cases of rape might represent a tiny portion - around 2 % - of total cases.727
SIHA and Fikra, a Sudanese nonpartisan think-tank,728 expressed similar views at the end ofJanuary 2024,729 and beginning of March 2024 respectively.730
While all warring parties have committed violations and acts of sexual violence against womenand girls, sources agreed that rape or gang rape committed by RSF and allied militias wasparticularly widespread.731 According to Insecurity Insight, out of the 82 incidents recorded on
the UNOCHA HDX Database in the period April – 30 September 2023,732 RSF or affiliatedforces were implicated in more than two-thirds of them.733 SIHA’s study indicated a similar
percentage when stating that 73 % of all surveyed survivors pointed to the RSF as their‘perpetrators’. According to OHCHR, the RSF were identified as perpetrators in 83 % of the

SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October
2023, url, p. 3; Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, pp. 3, 8; UNSC,
Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 65
722
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 4; Fikra for Studies andDevelopment, Unbreakable – Sudanese women struggle against conflict related sexual violence amid the war, 8
March 2024, url, p. 20
723
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 4
724
SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October
2023, url, p. 3
725
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 3
726
Fikra, Unbreakable – Sudanese women struggle against conflict related sexual violence amid the war, 8 March
2024, url, p. 22
727
Radio Dabanga, Sudan: Two new GBV cases in El Gezira, 18 January 2024, url; UNHCR, Sudan refugee’s
emergency in Chad a protection crisis? – GBV perspective, November 2023, url, p. 1; Al Jazeera, Sexual violence
still a major threat as Sudan’s conflict grinds on, 6 December 2023, url; Save the Children, Sudan: Children as
young as 12 raped and assaulted, as sexual violence rips through the country, 7 July 2023, url
728
Fikra, About us, n.a, url
729
Sudan Tribune, Sudan conflict fuels sexual violence against women, says SIHA, 1 February 2024, url
730
Fikra, Unbreakable – Sudanese women struggle against conflict related sexual violence amid the war, 8 March
2024, url, pp. 13-14, 27
731
OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 46; UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 65-67,
85; Fikra, Unbreakable – Sudanese women struggle against conflict related sexual violence amid the war, 8 March
2024, url, pp. 23, 28; ACJPS, Sudan armed conflict: A war on women, 3 January 2024, url, p. 1; Insecurity Insight,
Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, pp. 1-2; SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest
wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October 2023, url, pp. 4, 7; UNOHCHR, UN experts
alarmed by reported widespread use of rape and sexual violence against women and girls by RSF in Sudan, 17
August 2023, url; see also UNHCR, Protection Brief Gender Based Violence, Sudan Situation, December 2023, url,
p. 3
732
UNOCHA, HDX - Sudan (SDN): Attacks on Aid Operations, Education, Health Care and IDP/Refugee Camps, andConflict-related Sexual Violence (CRSV) and Explosive Weapons Incident Data, 17 November 2023, url
733
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 7
721

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

incidents,734 according to Fikra in 84 % of cases.735 Most other cases involved ad-hoc Arabmilitia forces, according to Sudan expert Reeves.736
Sources agree that areas particularly affected by such violations were Khartoum and Darfur.737
Based on Insecurity Insight analysis, most CRSV incidents were gang rapes, ‘perpetrated bygroups’ of combatants,738 as also noted by SIHA as the war progressed.739
According to several sources, women and girls were often raped inside their home, or while
fleeing.740 Insecurity Insights indicated that with the April-2023 hostilities CRSV ‘has beenbrought into homes’, among others, with women and girls attacked in their residences in
Khartoum, or during house-to-house searches in Darfur.741 Based on their analysis, locations ofreported CRSV incidents in the period April-September 2023 were: unspecified (40 %), insidehome (27 %), outside home (23 %), under arrest/captivity (10 %).742
Within this context, the ethnic dimension of acts of sexual-gender based violence wasreported by various sources,743 notably against Masalit women,744 and other non-Arabcommunities,745 who were reportedly ‘most likely to be sexually assaulted or gang-raped’.746 At
the same time, SIHA reported about ethnically motivated violence at the hands of Masalit
armed groups and addressed at ‘lighter-skinned’ Arab women.747
The GBV humanitarian Sub-Sector, in its situational update as from 29 November 2023,
reported about: a) significant and long-lasting impact of GBV on physical and mental health OHCHR, Situation of human rights in the Sudan - Advance unedited version, A/HRC/55/29, 22 February 2024,
url, para. 46
735
Fikra, Unbreakable – Sudanese women struggle against conflict related sexual violence amid the war, 8 March
2024, url, p. 28
736
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
737
CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, pp.
23-24; SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25
October 2023, url, p. 8; Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, pp. 1-2,
4, 6
738
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 9
739
SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October
2023, url, p. 8
740
Fikra, Unbreakable – Sudanese women struggle against conflict related sexual violence amid the war, 8 March
2024, url, pp. 27, 28; SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in
Sudan, 25 October 2023, url, p. 8; Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023,
url, p. 7
741
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, pp. 2, 6
742
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 6
743
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 65, 85; Sudan
War Monitor, Minority women "abducted and held in degrading, slave-like conditions", 3 November 2023, url;
CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, p. 2;
SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October
2023, url, p. 4744
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 66, 94; SIHA
Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October 2023,
url, pp. 4, 7; Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, pp. 8-9
745
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 65, 85; CARE,
Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, p. 24; Insecurity
Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 9
746
CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, p. 24
747
SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October
2023, url, p. 6
734

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

including injury, unintended pregnancy and pregnancy complications, including HIV,
depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and death; b) increased number of unmarriedpregnant women - as the result of rape - displaced from conflict-affected states and seeking
GBV and sexual reproductive health services at IDP sites; c) increased cases of child, earlyand forced marriage; d) increased risks of sexual exploitation and trafficking due to the low
response capacity of public services and economic hardships.748 Among the complications,Sudan expert Reeves mentioned fistulas as well.749(a)Reporting from Darfur

According to Insecurity Insight’s mapping, in the period 15 April – 30 September 2023 CRSV
was most frequently reported from Khartoum City and West Darfur, and to a lesser extent from
North Darfur (El Fasher), South Darfur (Nyala), and South Kordofan.750 However,underreporting from these and other areas was maybe due to lower connectivity and poorer
telecommunications infrastructure.751 Moreover, according to Sudan expert Reeves, otherfactors contributed to substantial underreporting issues from these areas, such as lack ofreporting presence and ‘regional government indifference’.752
ACJPS documented or reported about instances of CRSV in various Darfur states. In South
Darfur, in the period 15 April– 31 July 2023, they documented the sexual abuse of at least 22
women in areas under the control of RSF.753 On 29 November 2023,754 this figure had raised
to 43 victims of gang rape, in the period May-August 2023.755 Still in South Darfur, ACJPS
documented the abduction and the sexual violation of fourteen female IDPs, includingchildren, in the period May-November 2023.756 Other cases of abductions and sexual abuse
were reported from Nyala, in South Darfur until December 2023.757 In West Darfur, ACJPS
documented an incident where seven university girls were abducted by the Sudanese
Alliance Forces and sexually violated for 14 days in El Geneina, in May-June 2023.758 In Central
Darfur, ACJPS documented 51 incidents of sexual violence against women and girls in Zalingei
and Garsilla localities, between May and November 2023.759 In North Darfur, Team Zamzam,
which is engaged, among others, with responding to sexual violence at the local Zamzam IDP
748

GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Sudan - The Current Context and Concerning GBV Trends, 6 December 2023, url, pp. 1-

2
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, pp. 1, 6
751
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 6; SIHA Network, Silent
weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October 2023, url, p. 3; UNSC,
Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 65; see also Rights for
Peace, Sudan Study on the status of and opportunities for reparations for survivors of conflict-related sexual
violence, October 2023, url, p. 13;
752
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
753
ACJPS, Sudan: A call for justice and accountability for 69 victims of rape and abductions in South Darfur, 12January 2024, url, p. 3
754
ACJPS, Fourteen female IDPs including children sexually violated in South Darfur, 3 January 2024, url, p. 2
755
ACJPS, Sudan: A call for justice and accountability for 69 victims of rape and abductions in South Darfur, 12January 2024, url, pp. 1, 3
756
ACJPS, Fourteen female IDPs including children sexually violated in South Darfur, 3 January 2024, url, pp. 1-2
757
ACJPS, Sudan armed conflict: A war on women, 3 January 2024, url, pp. 1-2
758
ACJPS, West Darfur: Justice for seven university girls abducted and subjected to sexual slavery in Elgenina, 12January 2024, url, pp. 1-2
759
ACJPS, Central Darfur: 51 women and girls sexually abused in Garsilla and Zalingi towns, 12 January 2024, url,
pp. 1-2
749

750

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

camp, reported about several recent instances of sexual violence ‘perpetrated’ by the RSF
and Janjaweed militias against women and girls on the outskirts of the camp.760
Sudan expert Reeves noted however that ‘there are simply no data for areas of Darfur without
reporting presence, e.g. around Zamzam IDP camp in North Darfur, most of Central Darfur,
and most of South Darfur.’761(b)Reporting from Wad Madani and Al Jazirah state

In January 2024, the SIHA network published a report documenting several cases of sexual
violence and systematic use of rape at the hands of the RSF in Wad Madani and otherlocations in Al Jazirah state.762 Radio Dabanga, while reporting on other rape cases that
occurred in January 2024, quoted the CVAW expressing ‘grave concern about the expansion
of RSF control in Al Jazira, which it considered “a direct threat to women and girls who areunable to leave the state, especially given the collapse of the health system”’.763(c)

Women in IDP sites

As mentioned in section 1.1.5(a) IDPs and refugees on the move, at the beginning of February
2024, based on IOM DTM Data, while the vast majority of recently displaced IDPs weresheltered by hosting communities (67 %), many found shelter in various types of IDP sites: IDP‘camps’ (6 %), ‘open area informal settlements’ (6 %), ‘improvised/critical shelters’ (1 %).764
Most of the newly displaced that were sheltered in ‘regular’ IDP camps - reportedly 72 100
households as of 2 February 2024 - were located in Darfur, or 55 318 households, 765 withhousehold size close to 7 on average.766 The remaining 16 782 households sheltered in‘regular’ IDP camps were reportedly located in White Nile state instead.767
At the same time, still as of 2 February 2024, ‘Open Area Informal Settlements’ accounted for
34 % of IDP shelters for newly displaced people in Central Darfur, 24 % in North Darfur, and
11 % in South Kordofan.768 Schools or other public buildings instead accounted for 40 % of the
newly displaced IDP shelters in West Darfur, 35 % in South Darfur, 18 % in Central Darfur, 15 %in Al Jazirah, 13 % in East Darfur, 10 % in North Darfur, and 10 % in West Kordofan.769

Reeves, E., Project Update, January 28, 2024: Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur, 28 January 2024, url;
Reeves, E., Project Update, December 28, 2023: Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur, 28 December 2023, url;
Reeves, E., Project Update, November 29, 2023: Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur, 28 November 2023, url;
Reeves, E., ANNEX to November 27, 2023 Update: Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur, 27 November 2023,
url; Reeves, E., Archive – Project Update: Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur, vv issues, 2024-2023, url
761
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
762
SIHA Network, Gezira under RSF Control - Report on the period between December 19, 2023 - January 10,2024, January 2024, url, pp. 5-6
763
Radio Dabanga, Sudan: Two new GBV cases in El Gezira, 18 January 2024, url
764
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 3765
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 3
766
Reeves, E., email exchange, 28 March 2024
767
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 3
768
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 3
769
IOM, DTM, Weekly Displacement Snapshot no. 19, 6 February 2024, url, p. 3760

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For a full understanding of this rapidly growing IDP population, one must consider the numberof people hosted in various IDP sites and camps prior to the outbreak of the war in 2023.
Moreover, as noted by Sudan expert Reeves, data pertaining to IDP populations do notnecessarily cohere, with different UN agencies often offering different figures or estimates.770
Against this overview on shelter distribution, IOM reported that as of 24 January 2024, 54 % of
the newly displaced population in Sudan was female,771 which Sudan expert Reeves considers‘almost certainly a low figure’.772 On this same point, the GBV Sub-Cluster indicated already inJune 2023 that in multiple states and localities the majority of IDPs were women and girls.773
Within this context, women on the move and in transition points,774 and more in general IDP
women and girls in IDP sites, were most vulnerable to GBV threats and exploitation.775 The UN
Panel of Experts reported that ‘in Nyala, almost all the cases of sexual violence took place in
IDP camps and in neighbourhoods inhabited by African communities, while similar patterns
were observed in Zalingei and El Fasher’.776 ACJPS reported several instances where IDP
women and girls were the primary target of sexual violence and abuse in various locations
across Darfur.777 Team Zamzam reported on instances of sexual violence taking place in thevicinity of Zamzam camp in North Darfur and the ‘grim constant’ near that or other camps: ‘thethreat of brutal sexual violence’.778
Moreover, the GBV Sub-Sector reported that ‘not all gathering sites [were] supported or
known, leaving some of those most in need without humanitarian response services’.779
Additionally, the same Sub-Sector reported that, where they existed, ‘humanitarian responses’
were ‘not safe’ for women and girls, for reasons of ‘inadequate lighting, poor layout ofshelters, shelter overcrowding, lack of privacy, and poor representation of women and girls indecision-making mechanisms’,780 as well as for lack of properly trained service providers.781
Further exacerbating this situation, many service providers and implementing partners wereforced to close their activities as a consequence of lootings and destructions of offices andReeves, E., email exchange, 28 March 2024
IOM, DTM, Monthly Displacement Overview (05), 2 February 2024, url, p. 3
772
Reeves, E., input from external review, 25 March 2024
773
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Crisis Continues: Situation Brief Update, 16 June 2023, url, p. 2
774
UN WOMEN, Initial Rapid Gender Assessment, September 2023, url, pp. 10, 20
775
UN WOMEN, Initial Rapid Gender Assessment, September 2023, url, pp. 5, 8, 20, 24-25; CARE, Rapid Gender
Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, p. 24; GBV Sub-Sector Sudan,
Crisis Continues: Situation Brief Update, 16 June 2023, url, p. 2; see also UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Expertson the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 66
776
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 66, see alsopara. 58-59
777
ACJPS, Fourteen female IDPs including children sexually violated in South Darfur, 3 January 2024, url, pp. 1-2;
ACJPS, Central Darfur: 51 women and girls sexually abused in Garsilla and Zalingi towns, 12 January 2024, url, pp. 12; ACJPS, Sudan: A call for justice and accountability for 69 victims of rape and abductions in South Darfur, 12January 2024, url, p. 2; ACJPS, Sudan armed conflict: A war on women, 3 January 2024, url, p. 2
778
Reeves, E., Project Update, December 28, 2023: Responding to Sexual Violence in Darfur, 28 December 2023,
url
779
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Sudan - The Current Context and Concerning GBV Trends, 6 December 2023, url, p. 1
780
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Crisis Continues: Situation Brief Update, 16 June 2023, url, p. 2781
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Sudan - The Current Context and Concerning GBV Trends, 6 December 2023, url, p. 1
770
771

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

response spaces, including Women and Girls Safe Spaces (WGSS), confidential corners, andhospitals.782(d)Intimate partner and domestic violence

Risks of intimate partner and domestic violence were also noted to be on the rise on the
backdrop of the on-going hostilities.783 The GBV Sub-Sector, in its situational update from
November 2023 noted that ‘survivors are reporting an intensification of [Intimate Partner
Violence], sharing that psychological problems among men have increased in IDP sites’.784

2.5.3.

Kidnapping, abduction, exploitation, slavery, disappearances,and other violations

Reports indicate that along with rape and gang rape, women and girls have been exposed toothers risks or a combination of them against the backdrop of the on-going hostilities,
including kidnapping for ransom,785 abductions,786 trafficking,787 sexual exploitation, forced
marriages - reportedly to RSF soldiers - slavery and sexual slavery.788
UN sources, quoted by The Telegraph at the beginning of January 2024, recorded ‘sightingsof “chained up women and girls being taken away in pickup trucks and cars”’, detained by
RSF in inhuman or degrading conditions, subject to sexual slavery, enforced disappearancesand forced marriages.789 Corroborating this, ACJPS conducted field research in Darfur over athree-month period, May-July 2023, on sexual slavery. They found out that the RSF practice ofstealing cars was linked to the kidnapping of women and girls in Khartoum, and theirtransportation to Darfur, often ‘tied to chains’ and concealed by ‘cardboard boxes’. The
documented victims, subject to detention, sexual exploitation, and forced prostitution, were in
the dozens.790 Still in Darfur, ACJPS documented several instances of women abductions,
including of at least 26 cases in South Darfur perpetuated by the RSF, armed militias, andunknown robbers.791

GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Sudan - The Current Context and Concerning GBV Trends, 6 December 2023, url, p. 1
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Sudan - The Current Context and Concerning GBV Trends, 6 December 2023, url, p. 2;
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Crisis Continues: Situation Brief Update, 16 June 2023, url, p. 2; UN WOMEN, Initial Rapid
Gender Assessment, September 2023, url, p. 24; CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East
Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, pp. 6, 23784
GBV Sub-Sector Sudan, Sudan - The Current Context and Concerning GBV Trends, 6 December 2023, url, p. 2
785
CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, p. 24;
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 7;
786
Insecurity Insight, Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Sudan, November 2023, url, p. 7; CARE, Rapid Gender
Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, p. 24; SIHA Network, Silent
weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October 2023, url, pp. 9-10
787
CARE, Rapid Gender Analysis, Sudan – Khartoum, Al Gezira, East Darfur, South Darfur, October 2023, url, p. 24
788
SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October
2023, url, pp. 8-10
789
The Telegraph, Sexual violence in Sudan conflict becomes as commonplace as the fighting, 10 January 2024, url
790
ACJPS, Sexual Slavery in Khor Jahannam, 13 January 2024, url, pp. 5-8
791
ACJPS, Sudan: A call for justice and accountability for 69 victims of rape and abductions in South Darfur, 12January 2024, url, p. 1
782
783

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

In terms of disappearances, data are often drawn from the Sudanese Group for Victims of
Enforced Disappearance, a grass-root initiative that keeps track of such instances.792 SIHA
Network, while quoting these data, spoke about 637 individuals whose disappearance wasconfirmed in the period April-early September 2023, among which there were 40 ‘still missing’
women and girls.793 A few months later, in December 2023, these figures had raised to 842
individuals, of which 48 women confirmed as forcibly disappeared.794 Still SIHA Network, at theend of January 2024, spoke about over 104 cases of missing women and girls, and the‘disturbing pattern’ that ‘a significant increase in disappearances coincides with the presenceof the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a particular area’.795
Sudan War Monitor indicated that victims – Masalit and Nuba, among others - are often
targeted on an ‘ethnic basis’ and in line with ‘the Arab supremacist racial beliefs of many rankand-file [RSF] fighters’.796

2.6.

Child soldiers

As reported by various sources, on 16 October 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking
in persons, Siobhán Mullally, expressed her concerns about the heightened risk of childrecruitment in Sudan since the outbreak of the war between the SAF and the RSF. According
to her ‘unaccompanied children and children from poor families [were] allegedly targeted by
RSF in the outskirts of Khartoum, as well as in Darfur and West Kordofan, for recruitment into
combat roles’.797
Similar reports had emerged already earlier, on occasion of the battle for Al Shajara in
Khartoum, in August 2023.798 As indicated by Radio Dabanga, while quoting a source close toprominent researcher Eric Reeves, ‘“among the dead, there were many children killed fightingwith the RSF”’.799 The same source reported about the Darfur Bar Association releasing astatement to express ‘grave concerns about the presence of minors among army fighters inmilitary operations’ at both SAF and RSF posts.800

ACJPS, Sexual Slavery in Khor Jahannam, 13 January 2024, url, pp. 4-5; SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest
wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October 2023, url, pp. 9-10
793
SIHA Network, Silent weapons, loudest wounds – Addressing the crisis of sexual violence in Sudan, 25 October
2023, url, pp. 9-10
794
SIHA Network, Sudan women and girls at ongoing risk of abduction and enforced disappearance, 23 January2023, url
795
Sudan Tribune, Regional group sounds alarm over surge in women-enforced disappearances in Sudan, 28
January 2024, url
796
Sudan War Monitor, Minority women "abducted and held in degrading, slave-like conditions", 3 November 2023,
url
797
OHCHR, Sudan: UN expert warns of child recruitment by armed forces, 16 October 2023, url; AA, UN expert
concerned over child recruitment by armed groups in Sudan, 16 October 2023, url; ADF, Witnesses Report Use ofChild Soldiers in Sudan’s Conflict, 31 October 2023, url; Radio Dabanga, UN expert warns of child recruitment byarmed groups in Sudan, 18 October 2023, url
798
Sudan War Monitor, RSF breach the outer defenses of Armored Corps, 21 August 2023, url; Radio Dabanga,
Child soldiers reported in Sudan battles, 22 August 2023, url
799
Radio Dabanga, Child soldiers reported in Sudan battles, 22 August 2023, url
800
Radio Dabanga, Child soldiers reported in Sudan battles, 22 August 2023, url
792

94

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

An article appeared on Arab News on 1 September 2023, indicated that ‘the scale ofrecruitment of child soldiers in Sudan is alarming’ and that ‘stories from across various regions
reveal a systematic pattern of exploitation transcending both tribal lines and politicalaffiliations’. The same article, that was based on expert and witness testimonies, indicatedhow children were often forcibly recruited against their will or lured into the conflict withpromises of material or monetary gain through a mix of narratives of ‘coercion, fear, andmanipulation’.801 As pointed out in the revised Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024, theunprecedented number of displaced school-aged children coupled with the closure of theschool system and the limited access to social services, had further exacerbated children’svulnerability to recruitment and association with armed groups.802
Various UN reports reported on recruitment and use of children, among other violations,
during the reference period.803 These included: a) reports of recruitment at the hands of bothwarring parties, notably in Darfur, in recruitment camps or centres in various cities, including El
Fasher, Zalingei and Nyala;804 b) the verification of the recruitment of 13 boys by the RSF in
Khartoum and South Darfur in the period May-August 2023;805 c) the release from detention of
30 boys that had been used by the RSF as combatants, in the period August-October 2023;806d) unverified reports of abduction of 25 children by warring parties in West Darfur and theKordofans in early June 2023.807
ACJPS, while attributing the forced recruitment of children to both the SAF, and theparamilitary RSF, together with their allied militia,808 put forward in one of its reporting on theissue that the most affected areas were the marginalized areas in Darfur and the Kordofans.809
Notably on Darfur, the ACJPS documented various instances of child recruitment over thereference period: at the beginning of November 2023, an incident where 66 children werearrested in West Darfur by the RSF amidst allegations of recruitment of child soldiers by the
SAF: allegedly the children were coerced and manipulated into accusing SAF of recruiting
them;810 in November 2023, recruitment of child soldiers by RSF in Central Darfur state
facilitated by the native administration members affiliated with RSF, a practice that had alreadyArab News, Sudan conflict poses threat of long-term societal harm as recruitment of child soldiers surges, 1
September 2023, url
802
UNOCHA, Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan Sudan, 21 December 2023, url, pp. 7, 37, 49
803
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 68; UNSG,
Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the
Sudan, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 36; UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United
Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in the Sudan, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url, para. 33, 58;
UNHCR, Protection Brief Darfur Region, October 2023, url, p. 11; UNHCR, Protection Brief Sudan, July 2023, url, p.
7; UNHCR, Protection Brief Sudan, June 2023, url, p. 8804
UNSC, Final report of the Panel of Experts on the Sudan, S/2024/65, 15 January 2024, url, para. 68
805
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/644, 31 August 2023, url, para. 36
806
UNSG, Situation in the Sudan and the activities of the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in
the Sudan, S/2023/861, 13 November 2023, url, para. 33, 58
807
UNHCR, Protection Brief Sudan, July 2023, url, p. 7
808
ACJPS, Sudan: Sixty-six children detained and used as pawns by RSF against SAF, 12 January 2024, url, p. 1;
ACJPS, Zalingi, Central Darfur: Urgent call to RSF to end the recruitment of child soldiers, 12 January 2024, url, p. 1;
ACJPS, Stolen innocence: Children forcefully recruited into armed conflict in Sudan, 11 January 2024, url, p. 1
809
ACJPS, Stolen innocence: Children forcefully recruited into armed conflict in Sudan, 11 January 2024, url, p. 1
810
ACJPS, Sudan: Sixty-six children detained and used as pawns by RSF against SAF, 12 January 2024, url, p. 1
801

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EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUM

started in May 2023;811 other instances documented in South Darfur state involving at least 20
children recruited by the RSF;812 presence of children in the conflict have been cited in Division
15 in Zalingei in Central Darfur, Division 21 in Ardamata in West Darfur, and Division 20 El
Daein in East Darfur, among other states: most of these children had been recruited in South
Darfur, starting from June 2023, at the hands of RSF officers and with the help of community
leaders, who were paid between 250 000 and 400 000 Sudanese Pounds (approximately
between 232 and 357 USD) per child.813
At the beginning of February 2024, on the backdrop of the renewed heavy fighting in El
Fasher, Darfur, UN Sudan received reports of large-scale recruitment of children between 11
and 17 years of age into the ranks of the warring parties and other armed groups in the city.814
Reporting on Al Jazirah, a CNN investigation published in March 2024, found that in theprevious three months almost 700 men and 65 children had been forcibly recruited by the
RSF in the Al Jazirah state alone. The coercive methods employed by the RSF included‘intimidation, torture, summary execution and the withholding of food and medical aid’.815
For further information on child recruitment in the context of ‘mass mobilisation’ see section
1.1.3(e) Mass mobilisation and forced recruitment.

811

ACJPS, Zalingi, Central Darfur: Urgent call to RSF to end the recruitment of child soldiers, 12 January 2024, url, p.

1
ACJPS, Stolen innocence: Children forcefully recruited into armed conflict in Sudan, 11 January 2024, url, p. 1
ACJPS, Sudan: The continued use of child soldiers in the armed conflict in South Darfur, 3 January 2024, url, p. 1
814
Harward, T., [@tobyharward, X] posted on 3 February 2024, url
815
CNN, ‘Enlist or die’: Fear, looming famine and a deadly ultimatum swell the ranks of Sudan’s paramilitary forces,
19 March 2024, url
812
813

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SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

Annex 1: Bibliography
Maps
PolGeoNow (Political Geography Now), Sudan Approximate Territorial Control as of 31 January 2024,
n.a., non-public source.
UNOCHA (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), Sudan – Administrative
Map, June 2021, https://www.unocha.org/attachments/985356cc-eff5-3817-8b9a285ed6e922d5/Sudan_Administrative_map_A4_June_2021.pdf.pdf, accessed 21 March 2024
FEWS NET (Famine Early Warning Systems Network), Sudan Food Security Alert: Clashes in Sudan’sbreadbasket threaten national food availability, 1 February 2024,
https://reliefweb.int/attachments/7f22dd55-fd97-4a34-b983-4aa901c34a97/Sudan-Food-Security-Alert202401_1.pdf, accessed 21 March 2024

Oral sources, including anonymous sources
Expert I, Sudan specialist on political transition and democratisation, email exchange, 16 April 2024
Reeves, Eric, email exchange, 12, 14, and 19 January 2024; 28 March 2024
Tubiana, Jérôme, email exchange, 19 March 2024

Public sources
AA (Anadolu Agency), In war-stricken Sudan, handwritten letters connect people, 15 September 2023,
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/in-war-stricken-sudan-handwritten-letters-connect-people/2991742,
accessed 18 March 2024
AA (Anadolu Agency), UN expert concerned over child recruitment by armed groups in Sudan, 16
October 2023, https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/un-expert-concerned-over-child-recruitment-by-armedgroups-in-sudan/3021836, accessed 18 March 2024
Abbas, R., The War to Take Over West Darfur and its Capital, Al-Geneina, 26 September 2023,
https://timep.org/2023/09/26/the-war-to-take-over-west-darfur-and-its-capital-al-geneina/, accessed 18
March 2024
ACAPS, Current Crises in Sudan, 29 January 2024, https://www.acaps.org/en/countries/sudan,
accessed 31 January 2024
ACAPS, Sudan – West Darfur pre-crisis profile, 18 July 2023,
https://www.acaps.org/fileadmin/Data_Product/Main_media/20230718_ACAPS_Thematic_report_Suda
n_West_Darfur_conflict.pdf, accessed 18 March 2024
ACAPS, Thematic report Sudan North Kordofan: pre-crisis and current situation, 10 October 2023,
https://www.acaps.org/fileadmin/Data_Product/Main_media/20231010_ACAPS_Thematic_report_Suda
n_North_Kordofan_pre-crisis_and_current_situation.pdf, accessed 9 February 2024

97

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUMACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Al-jazeera state: 26 men arbitrarily arrested andallegedly killed by the Military Intelligence Unit in Wad Madani, 11 January 2024,
https://www.acjps.org/publications/al-jazeera-state-26-men-arbitrarily-arrested-and-allegedly-killed-bythe-military-intelligence-unit-in-wad-madani, accessed 18 March 2024
ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Central Darfur: 51 women and girls sexually
abused in Garsilla and Zalingi towns, 12 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/centraldarfur-51-women-and-girls-sexually-abused-in-garsilla-and-zalingi-towns,accessed 18 March 2024
ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Central Darfur: Deep concern for the safety andwellbeing of four Sudanese including HRDs detained in Zalingi city, 12 January 2024,
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ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Fourteen female IDPs including children sexually
violated in South Darfur, 3 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/fourteen-female-idpsincluding-children-sexually-violated-in-south-darfur, accessed 18 March 2024
ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), RSF and allied militia accused of looting vehicles
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ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Sexual Slavery in Khor Jahannam, 13 January2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/sexual-slavery-in-khor-jahannam, accessed 18 March 2024
ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), SGBV: A Tool Used to Instil Fear in Sudan's
Armed Conflict, 12 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/sgbv-a-tool-used-to-instill-fear-insudan-s-armed-conflict, accessed 18 March 2024
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into armed conflict in Sudan, 11 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/stolen-innocencechildren-forcefully-recruited-into-armed-conflict-in-sudan, accessed 18 March 2024
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March 2024
ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Sudan war update: Forty-seven detainees
released, hundreds remain in custody, 12 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/sudan-warupdate-forty-seven-detainees-released-hundreds-remain-in-custody, accessed 18 March 2024
ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Sudan: A call for justice and accountability for 69
victims of rape and abductions in South Darfur, 12 January 2024,
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ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Sudan: Seven human rights defenders andactivists arrested, detained, and allegedly tortured by the SAF Military Intelligence Unit in the Blue Nile
Region, 20 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/sudan-seven-human-rights-defenders-98

SUDAN COUNTRY FOCUS – APRIL 2024

and-activists-arrested-detained-and-allegedly-tortured-by-the-saf-military-intelligence-unit-in-the-bluenile-region, accessed 18 March 2024
ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Sudan: Sixty-six children detained and used as
pawns by RSF against SAF, 12 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/sudan-sixty-sixchildren-detained-and-used-as-pawns-by-rsf-against-saf, accessed 18 March 2024
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ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Sudan: The continued use of child soldiers in thearmed conflict in South Darfur, 3 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/sudan-thecontinued-use-of-child-soldiers-in-the-armed-conflict-in-south-darfur, accessed 18 March 2024
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developments in Darfur, 11 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/the-recent-political-andhuman-rights-developments-in-darfur, accessed 18 March 2024
ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), West Darfur: Justice for seven university girls
abducted and subjected to sexual slavery in Elgenina, 12 January 2024,
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ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), West Darfur: Nine Sudanese men arbitrarily
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ACJPS (African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies), Zalingi, Central Darfur: Urgent call to RSF to end
the recruitment of child soldiers, 12 January 2024, https://www.acjps.org/publications/zalingi-centraldarfur-urgent-call-to-rsf-to-end-the-recruitment-of-child-soldiers, accessed 18 March 2024
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Rapid Support Forces (RSF) Gains Ground in Sudan, 12 January 2024,
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Violence in Kordofan Region as More Militia Groups Step Into the Conflict, 11 August 2023,
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Setbacks as Armed Groups Overtake Territory Across the Country, 21 July 2023,
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ACLED (The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project), Situation Update, Sudan: deadly reciprocal
offensives for strategic locations in Khartoum and Darfur, 8 September 2023,
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18 March 2024

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117

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUMRadio Dabanga, Darfur Joint Forces cease aid deliveries amidst ‘healthcare collapse’ warnings, 28
February 2024, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-joint-forces-cease-aiddeliveries-amidst-healthcare-collapse-warnings, accessed 18 March 2024
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2023, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/emergency-lawyers-to-sudan-intelligenceactivists-are-not-the-enemy, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Eritrea military training camps raise concerns about security in eastern Sudan, 26
January 2024, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/eritrea-training-camps-raiseconcerns-about-security-situation-in-eastern-sudan, accessed 20 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Escalated fighting in greater Khartoum persists, prices of fuel and food soar in Sudan,
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Radio Dabanga, Fighting leads to internet cuts, Sudanese protests against the war, 24 April 2023,
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/fighting-leads-to-internet-cuts-sudanese-protestsagainst-the-war, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Food kitchens halt in Khartoum North as people die of hunger, 20 February 2024,
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Radio Dabanga, Horrifying testimonies on West Darfur ethnic targeting as other Masalit Sultan relative iskilled, 19 June 2023, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/horrifying-testimonies-fromwest-darfur-as-another-masalit-sultan-relative-is-killed, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Khartoum ‘one big prison’, people ‘tortured to death’ by Sudan Military Intelligence, 4September 2023, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/khartoum-one-big-prison-forcivilians-people-tortured-to-death-by-sudan-military-intelligence, accessed 18 March 2024
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Radio Dabanga, More mass graves found in West Darfur, RSF accused of demolishing camps, 14 August
2023, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/more-mass-graves-found-in-west-darfur-rsfaccused-of-demolishing-camps, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, More than 50 dead following Sudan Army-RSF clashes in El Obeid, 18 April 2023,
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March 2024

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Radio Dabanga, RSF secures oilfield in East Darfur, 7 November 2023,
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Radio Dabanga, South Kordofan mining practices prompt environmental outcry, 12 February 2024,
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Radio Dabanga, Sudan activists condemn RSF detention and ‘enforced disappearance’ of journalists, 23
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Radio Dabanga, Sudan army mobilisation intensifies with Pride and Dignity training camps for volunteer
recruits, 11 July 2023, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-army-mobilisationintensifies-with-pride-and-dignity-training-camps-for-volunteer-recruits, accessed 7 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan faces acute medical supply shortage, 7 June 2023,
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119

EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR ASYLUMRadio Dabanga, Sudan govt cracks down on grassroots service committees in the entire country, 22January 2024, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-cracks-down-on-civil-societygroups-in-the-entire-country, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan RSF detain a journalist and a politician in El Gezira, 26 January 2024,
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-rsf-detain-a-journalist-and-a-politician-in-wadmadani, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan surgeon abducted by armed group in Khartoum, 28 May 2023,
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-surgeon-abducted-by-armed-group-inkhartoum, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan war: dusk to dawn curfew in North Kordofan, 3 August 2023,
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accessed 1 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan: Two new GBV cases in El Gezira, 18 January 2024,
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March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan: Wad Madani Resistance Committees defy dissolution order, 26 January 2024,
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Radio Dabanga, Sudan’s FFC-CC meet in Cairo, 25 July 2023, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/allnews/article/sudans-ffc-cc-meet-in-cairo, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan’s Gen El Burhan dissolves Hemedti’s RSF militia as ‘rebel force’, 18 April 2023,
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ORKS/_SUDAN/COI_PRODUCTS/_COUNTRY_FOCUS/DRAFT_CINZIA/Sudan’s Gen El Burhan
dissolves Hemedti’s RSF militia as ‘rebel force’, accessed 29 February 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan’s long-awaited framework agreement signed between military and civilian
bodies, 6 December 2022, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-s-long-awaitedframework-agreement-signed-between-military-and-civilian-bodies, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudan’s warring parties ‘detain activists, hold volunteers incommunicado’, 19 May
2023, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudans-warring-parties-detain-activists-holdvolunteers-incommunicado, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudanese Journalists Network condemns violence against reporters, 24 January 2024,
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudanese-journalists-network-condemns-violenceagainst-reporters, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudanese Journalists Syndicate elects first chair in 33 years, 29 August 2022,
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudanese-journalists-syndicate-elects-first-chair-in33-years, accessed 18 March 2024
Radio Dabanga, Sudanese legal expert: hindering access to aid is crime against humanity, 19 February
2024, https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudanese-legal-expert-hindering-access-toaid-is-crime-against-humanity, accessed 18 March 2024

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Annex 2: Terms of Reference
PART I
1.

Country security and humanitarian situation
1.1. Country overview
1.1.1. Political situation and background1.1.2. Security situation overview
1.1.3. Communication breakdown
1.1.4. Humanitarian situation
1.2. Security situation in selected regions
1.2.1. Situation in Darfur
1.2.2. Situation in Khartoum
1.2.3. Situation in Al Jazirah
1.2.4. Situation in Kordofan

PART II
2. Crosscutting issues and conflict-related relevant profiles
2.1. Situation of journalists and treatment of media personnel
2.2. Situation of humanitarian and health personnel
2.3. The situation of political opponents and peace, human rights activists
2.4. Situation of non-Arab/African in Darfur
2.5. Situation of women and girls
2.6. Child soldiers133