15th April 2025
Today marks the second anniversary of the outbreak of conflict in Sudan, which has plunged the country into a severe political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.
The conflict has already claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced over 14 million people, including more than 3.3 million as refugees in neighbouring countries. Acute hunger caused by the crisis is affecting 25.4 million people in Sudan, and the collapse of state services means that 80% of health facilities are non-operational and 19 million children are out of school.
We want to commemorate the Sudanese civilians and aid workers who have fallen victim to the violence and human rights abuses stemming from this war between two factions of the Sudanese military.
We also want to draw attention to and amplify the indomitable spirit of local responders. War happens to people and so as we commemorate this unfortunate anniversary, we also should recognise the people rising to meet the challenges faced by their families, communities and country.
These local responders are mostly volunteers, and their efforts have been crucial in providing humanitarian aid despite facing repression from the conflict parties. They are often not formal institutions, but networks of local people cooperating to help their communities survive, drawing on a rich tradition of mutual aid in Sudan. Many started out as citizens, community activists, and self-help groups formed in the crucible of Sudan’s popular revolution of 2018 that led to the fall of the thirty-year regime of Sudan’s former military dictator, Omar El Bashir, in 2019.
Within hours of the fighting breaking out on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), local responders – including mutual aid groups, Emergency Response Rooms, community and women’s initiatives – pivoted swiftly to provide humanitarian aid to affected communities and those displaced by the fighting, often in a highly complex security situation. They are among the few groups able to access some parts of Sudan to deliver humanitarian assistance, as the conflict parties continue to use aid and aid access as a weapon, and as a political lever.
The work of local responders has mostly been supported by Sudanese philanthropists and the diaspora, who have made such great efforts to maintain their support since 2023. While there is increasing international recognition of local responders’ work, bureaucratic impediments mean international organisations have struggled to provide resources to them at a scale commensurate with humanitarian needs in the country.
The UK government, along with France, Germany, and the European Commission, are convening ministers from governments neighbouring Sudan as well as other international partners today in London to agree a strengthened response to one of the worst global crises.
We urge participants at this conference to remember the Sudanese civilians affected by the crisis, and the local responders who have valiantly struggled to support affected communities in the face of such adversity. They are some of the true heroes of this crisis, and a beacon of hope for Sudan’s future reconstruction.
