The war in Sudan entered its fourth year on April 15th, 2026, with the United Nations observing the grim three-year mark of what is now the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, calling again for urgent cessation of hostilities and political dialogue. According to U.N. Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, nearly 34 million people in Sudan require humanitarian assistance, and more than 4.5 million have been forced to flee across the country’s borders. The three-year mark coincided with the International Sudan Conference in Berlin, where the U.N. Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for Sudan, Pekka Haavisto, joined senior U.N. officials in calling on member states to fund the humanitarian response and pursue a credible political process. Haavisto’s appearance in Berlin followed diplomatic engagements in Nairobi from April 7th to April 10th, during which he met with Sudanese armed factions, civilian political actors, and civil society representatives.
Following his Nairobi meetings, Haavisto reiterated that “the conflict cannot be resolved through military means,” underscoring the urgent need for de-escalation measures and the protection of civilians. Speaking in Berlin, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Tom Fletcher described Sudan as an “atrocities laboratory,” citing sieges, the denial of food, the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, and the targeting of schools and hospitals. Fletcher noted that drone strikes had killed 700 people in 2026 alone, and more than 130 humanitarian workers had been killed over the past three years. Volker Türk, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated that “urgent joint action to hold those responsible to account” was the only way to end the violence and prevent further atrocities. Sudanese families displaced and forced to flee to Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt face severe shortages of food, water, and medical care, while famine has been declared in Darfur and other besieged regions of Sudan.
The Sudan situation illustrates the cost of allowing a conflict to be sustained by military logic rather than addressed through political settlement. After three years of military strife between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, no conclusive victory has been attained. The international community is now witnessing the world’s largest displacement crisis, the collapse of essential services, and a famine that humanitarian agencies warn is being used as a weapon of war. Haavisto’s message that the war cannot be won militarily aligns with what Sudanese civilians and civil society have warned for years, yet international engagement has lagged behind the scale of the suffering.
The war began on April 15th, 2023, when fighting broke out in Khartoum between the Sudanese Armed Forces, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo Musa. The two factions had previously cooperated to overthrow long-time ruler Omar al-Bashir in 2019 and later derailed the country’s transition to civilian rule in 2021. The conflict quickly spread, with both sides accused of atrocities, including ethnic violence in Dargur reminiscent of the early 2000s genocide. Multiple ceasefire attempts mediated by Saudi Arabia and the United States have collapsed. In February 2026, U.N. Secretary General António Guterres announced the appointment of Haavisto, a veteran Finnish diplomat with prior experience in the Darfur peace process, as his new Personal Envoy for Sudan. The appointment came amid the formation of the Quintet, a combined mediation effort involving the African Union, the I.G.A.D., the League of Arab States, the U.N., and the European Union.
The way forward depends on a mixture of political will and continued financial support. The 2026 humanitarian needs and response plan for Sudan seeks more than 20 million people but requires three billion U.S. dollars. As of early April, the plan remains severely underfunded, having received only 16 percent of the required funding. The efforts of Haavisto, the Quintet, and the U.N. Human Rights Office’s peace-building proposals together constitute a renewed round of diplomacy aimed at peace. But any progress will depend on whether the boring parties can be persuaded that the political settlement is a better path forward than continued escalation. For the millions of Sudanese living in displacement camps, sheltering across borders, or trapped in besieged cities, every additional month of delay means more lives lost and more communities fractured.
