NRC Blames Rapid Support Forces for Sudan’s Displacement Crisis—Top of the Ten Worst Globally
Sudanhorizon– Mohamed Othman Adam
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has released its annual report highlighting the ten most neglected displacement crises, which continue to unfold largely ignored by the global community. Sudan’s situation tops this list.
The report, published on the NRC’s official website on Friday, explains that four criteria were used to identify these crises:
1. A lack of media attention;
2. Declining funding;
3. A lack of political will; and a new criterion added this year:
4. The “scale of displacement.”
The report notes with regret that the world’s worst humanitarian crisis has now reached its 1,000th day since the outbreak of war in Sudan. It asserts that nowhere on earth are people suffering more than in Sudan, and nowhere is the gap between needs and the actual response wider—making the displacement crisis in Sudan the most neglected of all.
The Norwegian Refugee Council holds the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) directly responsible, identifying them as the primary party behind the crisis in Sudan. The report states that the warning signs were clear as early as 2023, yet the alerts issued by both Sudanese and international humanitarian organizations were met with indifference. The report reveals that “catastrophes intensified as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and their allies imposed prolonged sieges on the Zamzam camp, El Fasher, Kadugli, and Dilling, depriving civilians of food, water, and essential aid. In some instances, families were forced to resort to desperate survival measures, such as boiling leaves or scavenging for scraps of cowhide at slaughterhouses.
According to the report, by April, the siege of the Zamzam camp escalated into massacres, resulting in a high death toll and forcing hundreds of thousands to flee. Six months later, widespread atrocities were committed in El Fasher; thousands were killed, sexual violence became rampant, and countless individuals vanished without a trace. There was no escape—people were targeted both within the city and while attempting to flee.
The report highlights tragic scenes, such as those in Kadugli and Dilling, where “mothers would wake up to find that their children had died of starvation in their sleep.
The report also expresses bewilderment at the international community’s indifference toward the situation in Sudan—a crisis marked by mass atrocities, the details of which are broadcast in real-time on social media. Evidence is everywhere; the bloodshed is even visible via satellite imagery. Yet, international humanitarian law continues to be violated repeatedly, with no accountability whatsoever. “What more could it possibly take to prompt action?” This is how Mathilde Vu, Advocacy Manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Sudan, expressed her profound regret.
The fierce conflict has displaced nine million people within the country. By 2025, approximately 29 million people were facing acute hunger, with some regions experiencing outright famine.
As the war persists, the crisis in Sudan has gradually spilled across its borders; more than four million people have fled to Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Libya, and beyond. Although many of these host nations were already grappling with their own crises, they have generously taken in refugees and returnees. This has come at a staggering cost, placing a burden on the region that exceeds its capacity to cope.
— Delivering humanitarian aid under extremely dangerous conditions
Delivering aid to those in need in Sudan has required navigating immense risks, amidst destroyed infrastructure and deliberate obstacles. In 2025 alone, 92 humanitarian workers were killed, detained, or injured. Furthermore, floods and years of conflict have devastated key transport routes, hindering rapid response efforts and placing an additional strain on humanitarian operations that were already under immense pressure.
With vital public services collapsing, local actors have become more critical than ever to the humanitarian response. Yet, at the height of these pressures, funding has been drastically cut—forcing many, due to a lack of resources, to cease operations entirely. As for those who managed to keep going—such as local community volunteers, mutual aid groups, and women-led organizations—they operated under extreme risk, facing threats of arrest, torture, and death.
In besieged cities beyond the reach of external organizations, they served as the only lifeline. Yet, despite the atrocities unfolding in El Fasher, inaction remains the norm.
Although news of the fall of El Fasher made international headlines, this heightened attention failed to translate into meaningful action. By the end of 2025, the humanitarian response remained less than 40 percent funded.
While the war in Sudan occasionally appears on the global diplomatic agenda, it just as quickly fades from view. Political efforts to end the conflict have been largely perfunctory and indifferent, lacking the capacity—or the will—to take concrete steps to protect civilians or ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The organization concludes its report by emphasizing that “Sudan is a vast country; its crisis cannot be ignored, and its neglect is entirely unjustifiable. While humanitarian aid—provided there is sustainable funding—can help sustain life, a political solution remains the only path toward restoring the foundations of a viable society
Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=19982