Sudan's Purgatory: A Weaponized Humanitarian Catastrophe and the International Community's Silence
19/01/2026
Port Sudan, on the shores of the Red Sea, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk stood before journalists, his face etched with exhaustion and anger. In January 2026, following his first visit to Sudan since the outbreak of war in April 2023, the senior diplomat summarized the country's current situation with two words: terror and hell. His voice, amplified through the microphone, reached out to the world, attempting to pierce the increasingly numb nerves of the international community. Yet, within Sudan, nearly three years of conflict have pushed 30.4 million out of a population of 46 million to the brink of humanitarian aid, with 13.6 million displaced, creating the world's largest displacement crisis. The numbers are cold, but what Türk brought back were countless stories of shattered lives.
The Normalization of War Crimes: The Cycle of Death from Darfur to Kordofan
Türk's warning is not empty rhetoric. During his visit, he heard unbearable testimonies of atrocities from survivors of the Darfur attacks, and he explicitly pointed out that these crimes are at risk of being repeated in the current conflict center, the Kordofan region. This is not alarmist but a grim prediction based on historical patterns and current dynamics.
In October 2025, during the capture of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, the Rapid Support Forces were accused by monitoring organizations of killing at least 1,500 people. Türk visited the Al-Afdab camp, approximately 1,200 kilometers from El Fasher, where he met with displaced persons who had fled the besieged city. Among them was a 4-year-old child who lost hearing due to bombing, and a 3-year-old child whose smile had vanished forever. A woman witnessed the killing of her husband and only son before her eyes; she herself was shot in the shoulder and remains bedridden due to grief, trauma, and pain. These individual tragedies form a microcosm of systematic violence.
Kordofan, the historical geographical region located in the center of Sudan, has now become a new crucible of war. The siege of Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan State, by the Rapid Support Forces has lasted for over 19 months, and the encirclement of El Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan State, has been ongoing for nearly a year. Türk issued a grave warning: famine conditions have already emerged in Kadugli, and other areas such as Dilling also face the risk of famine. The intensification of fighting alongside the spread of famine signifies that violence against civilians is evolving from direct military attacks to more covert but equally lethal tactics of starvation and the comprehensive destruction of the foundations for survival.
What is even more unsettling is the normalization of war crimes. Both sides of the conflict have been accused of committing war crimes, but the patterns of attack reveal a clear trajectory. Türk particularly emphasized the intolerable attacks on civilian infrastructure, including markets, health facilities, schools, and shelters. He even mentioned the strategically significant Merowe Dam and hydropower station, which once met 70% of the country's electricity demand but has been repeatedly targeted by drone strikes from the Rapid Support Forces. These actions not only exacerbate the humanitarian disaster but may themselves constitute war crimes. When hospitals and schools become routine targets, war is no longer merely a confrontation between armies but an annihilation of the entire social fabric.
External Intervention and the War Economy: Who is Funding This "Hell"?
In his speech at Port Sudan, Türk made a particularly sharp condemnation: It is disgraceful that huge sums of money, which should have been used to alleviate the suffering of the people, have instead been spent on purchasing increasingly advanced weapons, especially drones. This statement directly points to a critical yet often obscured dimension of the Sudanese civil war: the intervention of external forces and the resulting war economy.
This civil war, which began in April 2023 and was triggered by the power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces, is no longer a purely domestic conflict. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of the involvement of foreign actors. Despite consistent denials from Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates has been repeatedly accused of providing weapons, support, and political backing to the Rapid Support Forces. On the other hand, the Sudanese Armed Forces have received support from Egypt and Saudi Arabia. It has also been reported that the military has obtained weapons, including drones, from Iran and Turkey.
The influx of external weapons has created a paradox: while over 65% of Sudan's population requires humanitarian assistance, the conflicting parties are capable of acquiring and deploying increasingly sophisticated lethal technologies. Drones, weapons that have transformed the modern battlefield, are not only used in frontline confrontations in Sudan but also frequently appear in attacks targeting dams, cities, and camps for displaced persons. As a result, warfare has become technologized and cheapened—the cost of launching attacks is reduced, while the price paid by civilians rises exponentially.
Turk called on the commanders of this conflict, as well as those who arm, fund, and profit from this war, to hear the testimonies of the survivors. This essentially extends the spear of accountability from battlefield commanders to nations and commercial entities in the international supply chain. War has become a profitable business: external supporters pursue geopolitical influence through proxy wars, weapon manufacturers secure orders, while Sudanese civilians bear the ultimate cost. Without breaking this economic model, humanitarian appeals will remain feeble in the face of real interests.
Total militarization of society: when civilians and children become fuel for war.
In addition to external intervention, another dangerous trend pointed out by Türk is the increasing militarization of society by all parties to the conflict, including arming civilians and recruiting and using children. This means that war is consuming the most fundamental cells of society, dismantling community bonds, and dragging the entire nation into a violent norm where everyone becomes a soldier.
Armed civilians often appear in the form of self-defense or militias, but this actually blurs the line between combatants and civilians, making entire communities legitimate targets of attack, and intensifying conflicts between tribes and regions, incorporating them into the narrative of the main battlefield. In Darfur and Kordofan, this pattern has a long and tragic history. The recruitment and use of child soldiers, on the other hand, directly plunders the future of a society. These children are deprived of their childhood, education, and opportunities for growth, trained as tools for killing. Even if they survive, their psychological trauma will have long-term effects on the reconstruction of post-war society.
This militarization is evident not only at the armed level but also in the control of social spaces. Türk noted that civil society organizations and journalists are facing restrictions or becoming targets of smear campaigns. The space for those young people and women who were at the forefront of the 2018 revolution, and for volunteers who now risk detention and violence while overcoming significant bureaucratic hurdles to deliver aid to community organizations, is shrinking. As one volunteer told Türk: the price of war is being paid by the youth. Sudanese youth are on the front lines of this war, serving those in need of humanitarian assistance. When the most dynamic and constructive social forces are suppressed or forced underground, the resilience of society is gradually eroded.
What is particularly brutal is that women's bodies are weaponized. Türk recounted the testimony of a 20-year-old girl, Aisha (pseudonym): while fleeing El Fasher, she was dragged off a donkey cart by armed men. Her brother was shot and killed for trying to intervene, her mother was beaten, and she herself was raped, which caused her menstruation to stop. Systematic and widespread sexual violence is used as a weapon of war, which also constitutes a war crime. This violence aims to intimidate, humiliate, and destroy family and community structures, with effects that span generations.
Where is the Way Out: Placing Human Rights at the Heart of the Peace Process
Facing this unimaginably vast abyss, Tielke reiterated his plea from his last visit to Sudan at the end of his trip: I urge all parties involved to set aside entrenched positions, power games, and personal interests, and focus on the common good of the Sudanese people. He placed human rights at the center of efforts to end the war and establish lasting peace.
This is not merely a moral appeal, but a practical political pathway. Between conflicting parties with almost a complete lack of mutual trust, any ceasefire or political negotiation is extremely fragile. However, starting with specific, verifiable humanitarian and human rights measures might serve as a starting point for building minimal trust. Türk proposed several priority areas: protecting civilians and civilian infrastructure; ensuring safe passage for people to leave conflict zones; guaranteeing unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid; humane treatment of detainees; clarifying the whereabouts of missing persons; and releasing civilians detained on charges of collaborating with the opposing side.
These measures cannot immediately end the war, but they can mitigate the intensity of the disaster and create a small breathing space for the political process. The key lies in shifting the international community's attention and pressure from general appeals for peace to a sustained focus on specific violations and accountability mechanisms. This means more firmly tracking the flow of weapons, supporting independent investigations and documentation of human rights abuses, and leveraging all possible political and economic tools to make those actors who arm, fund, and profit from this war pay the price.
The tragedy of Sudan lies not in a sudden catastrophe, but in a slow-motion collapse unfolding in plain sight. The international community was not unaware, yet it consistently failed to muster the effective will to stop it. When the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights uses the word "hell" to describe a country's situation, it is both a depiction of Sudan's reality and a stark challenge to the global conscience. Türk said he saw that the spirit of the Sudanese people remains unbroken, that the spirit of struggle for peace, justice, and freedom still exists. However, the resilience of the people should not become an excuse for inaction by the outside world. Time is running out—Kordofan could become the next Darfur. Will the international community once again wait until the next hellish report emerges before expressing its belated grave concern?
Reference materials
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/01/1166785
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/sudan-people-endure-horror-hell-152700566.html