A fresh and devastating wave of displacement has struck Sudan, as the United Nations confirms that over 60,000 people have been forced to flee Wad Madani, a key central city, following its capture by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia. The mass exodus deepens the world’s largest displacement crisis and extinguishes one of the final remaining havens for civilians seeking refuge from the brutal war.
Wad Madani, the capital of Al Jazirah State, was not just an agricultural and economic hub; it had become a critical sanctuary for hundreds of thousands of people who had fled the initial fighting in the nation’s capital, Khartoum. Its fall to the RSF in December 2023 marked a watershed moment in the conflict, tearing apart the country’s relative stability in the central region.
The Domino Effect of Collapse
The humanitarian community has sounded an urgent alarm as the RSF’s control over the city precipitates a total collapse of aid operations and civilian infrastructure.
- Shattered Sanctuary: For months, Wad Madani served as a vital base for international and local aid organizations. The sudden, swift advance of the RSF militia caused a complete shutdown of operations, forcing humanitarian workers to evacuate alongside the panicked civilian population.
- Targeted Violence: Reports from the UN and local resistance committees detail widespread human rights violations in the wake of the RSF takeover, including looting, arbitrary detentions, and mass killings in Wad Madani and surrounding villages. The violence has been particularly acute in the agricultural heartland of Al Jazirah State, which is crucial for Sudan’s food supply.
- The Displaced are Displaced Again: The people now fleeing Wad Madani include many who had already been internally displaced (IDPs) from Khartoum. They are now on the move again, creating a secondary crisis of displacement, with new arrivals streaming into already strained states like Gedaref, River Nile, and Kassala.
“This is a human tragedy of immense proportions, deepening the country’s already dire humanitarian crisis,” stated an official from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), warning that the continuous movement of populations would push Sudan’s total displaced figure to catastrophic new levels.
A Famine on the Horizon
The capture of the state capital by the RSF carries dire consequences beyond the immediate violence: it threatens to exacerbate Sudan’s acute food crisis.
Al Jazirah State is known as “Sudan’s breadbasket,” an agricultural heartland responsible for much of the nation’s food production. The conflict has severely disrupted the planting season, damaged infrastructure like water facilities, and rendered entire areas inaccessible to farmers.
The UN has repeatedly warned that Sudan is on the brink of one of the world’s worst hunger crises, with millions facing famine conditions. The disruption to the agricultural cycle in Al Jazirah is seen as a critical blow that could tip the country into full-scale famine in the coming months.
Global Calls for Access and Peace
As the conflict stretches into its second year, the Wad Madani crisis underscores the complete failure of various international efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire. Humanitarian organizations are urgently calling on all parties to the conflict to allow immediate and unfettered access to those in desperate need.
“The situation is taking a further, even more dangerous turn for civilians,” lamented a UN Human Rights official, citing evidence of war crimes and ethnically-motivated atrocities. The fear among displaced families is not just of starvation, but of being caught in a retaliatory cycle of violence that shows no sign of abating.
The exodus from Wad Madani is a stark, tragic symbol of a conflict where a safe haven is now impossible to find.