Sudan emergency

Deadly armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan has forced millions of people from their homes. Since the violence broke out on 15 April, civilians have been killed and wounded, while hundreds of thousands of families have been on the move – both within the country and across borders, in dire need of protection and assistance.  

Many are arriving at remote border areas in countries neighbouring Sudan, finding very little infrastructure or services to support them. Most of those displaced are women and children, but other vulnerable people are among those who have fled, including older people, people with disabilities, and people with medical conditions.  

What is UNHCR doing to help?   

UNHCR emergency teams have been working around the clock with authorities and partners to support new arrivals, set up transit centres where people can rest and receive essential protection services and emergency supplies, and establish and expand camps where they can access longer-term support.  

For example, in Chad, UNHCR’s emergency teams are on the ground meeting newly arrived refugees, providing protection and life-saving support such as safe drinking water and blankets, and relocating them to camps away from the border. 

In South Sudan, UNHCR teams, with partners, are at border crossing points to monitor and help new arrivals – mainly South Sudanese refugees who are returning.  With partners, we have established transit centres where new arrivals are given food, water and accommodation in communal shelters, while we work to facilitate their onward transportation to their home areas or other preferred destinations. We are also helping families to establish contact with their relatives inside South Sudan, so that they can be reunited.  

In Ethiopia, communal emergency shelters have been built at a main arrival point on the border and hot meals are being provided by partners. A new refugee settlement has been established where the local school and other services are being expanded to enable an integration approach with the local community.

In the Central African Republic, shelter items, hygiene kits and mosquito nets are being given to new arrivals, some of whom have also been relocated to a newly established site.  

More than 250,000 Sudanese have crossed into Egypt since the start of the violence. UNHCR is providing safe drinking water and hygiene and sanitary kits at border crossing points to relieve people after a long and difficult journey. Registration of new arrivals in Cairo has also been accelerated so refugees can access cash assistance and services like health care and education. 

UNHCR is working closely with governments and partners in all countries neighbouring Sudan to respond to those who have arrived and to prepare for more new arrivals.  

Meanwhile, inside Sudan, UNHCR is assisting both refugees and internally displaced people with shelter, non-food items and protection, as the security situation allows. We are also supporting education programming for children who have been displaced. 

To scale up support, UNHCR has coordinated a regional response plan with 140 partners, including UN agencies, national and international NGOs, and civil society groups, to assist the projected 1.2 million refugees, returnees and third-country nationals who will need assistance up to October,  primarily in Chad, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Central African Republic. UNHCR's specific funding needs for that plan amount to $225 million, while the funding required to respond to the emergency inside Sudan is $52.4 million.