Sudan has been engulfed in a brutal war between the national army and a powerful paramilitary group since April 2023, creating what major aid agencies now describe as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

What actually happened?

  • In April 2023, fighting exploded between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a former government-aligned militia that turned against the army during a power struggle over control of the state and its security apparatus.
  • Battles quickly spread across the capital Khartoum and large parts of the country, with heavy artillery, air strikes, and urban street fighting devastating neighborhoods and public infrastructure.
  • Both sides have been accused by human rights groups and UN officials of serious abuses, including indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas, killings, sexual violence, and ethnically targeted attacks, especially in Darfur.

How bad is the humanitarian crisis?

  • UN and humanitarian agencies now describe Sudan as the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet, with almost three years of war destroying health services, food systems, and the economy.
  • Tens of thousands of people are believed to have been killed, but the true death toll is unknown because many bodies were buried in informal or unmarked graves in contested areas.
  • Around 33–34 million people, roughly two‑thirds of the population, are expected to need humanitarian assistance in 2026, with over 20 million facing acute hunger and famine‑like conditions.

Displacement and daily life

  • The war has driven at least 11 million people from their homes, including millions displaced inside Sudan and several million who have fled to neighboring countries, making it the world’s largest displacement crisis.
  • Major cities and towns have turned into front lines or “ghost towns,” with reports of widespread looting, destroyed markets, and communities cut off from regular supplies of food, water, and medicine.
  • Disease outbreaks, including waterborne illnesses and cholera, have been reported in overcrowded displacement camps where clean water, sanitation, and healthcare are extremely limited.

What’s happening now (early 2026)?

  • After operating for almost three years from a wartime base in Port Sudan, the army‑aligned government has announced the return of key state institutions to Khartoum, signalling an attempt to restore political and administrative control over the capital.
  • Parts of Khartoum are calmer than during the peak of the fighting, and authorities have begun limited reconstruction, but the city remains badly damaged and still faces drone attacks and insecurity in some areas.
  • Fighting continues in other regions such as Darfur and Kordofan, where both front‑line battles and atrocities against civilians are still being reported, even as political leaders talk about 2026 as a potential “year of peace” and reconstruction.

How are people and the world reacting?

  • Sudanese activists, medics, and local resistance committees have built grassroots networks to evacuate civilians, run field hospitals, and organize mutual aid as formal state services have collapsed.
  • International organizations warn that funding for aid operations is falling sharply, forcing cuts to food rations and health programmes even as needs keep growing.
  • On forums and social media, many Sudanese and supporters express frustration that the crisis receives far less global attention than other conflicts, describing a sense that “no one cares about Sudan” despite the scale of suffering.

TL;DR: Sudan’s “what happened” is an ongoing, nationwide war between the army and the RSF that started in April 2023, shattered Khartoum and Darfur, displaced millions, and created a famine‑level humanitarian catastrophe that is still unfolding in 2026.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.