Sudan Crisis Guide - What You Need To Know

This guide breaks down what’s happening in Sudan and why it matters. We update it regularly so you can stay informed. The latest update was on October 31, 2025. Want updates delivered directly to you? Join our email list. You can also find specific ways to help at the bottom of this guide.

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The War In Sudan

Sudan is a beautiful country with a rich history in northeast Africa, just south of Egypt along the Red Sea. With over 50 million people and deep diversity, Sudan sits at the crossroads of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. It’s also the third-largest country on the continent.

On April 15, 2023, a brutal war broke out in Khartoum between:

• Sudan Armed Forces (SAF): The country’s official military, including the army, air force, and navy.

• Rapid Support Forces (RSF): A paramilitary group formed by a previous dictatorship.

Both sides failed to eliminate each other’s leadership and the violence quickly spiraled into a nationwide crisis. Police units, intelligence services, local militias, and some rebel groups from past conflicts have taken sides. The RSF is also recruiting foreign mercenaries from across the Sahel.

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Why Are Sudan’s Warring Factions Fighting?

The military and RSF were once allies. That began to change in October 2021, after they teamed up to overthrow a civilian-led reform government. Tensions rose rapidly between both sides after the coup. RSF commander Mohamed “Hemeti” Dagalo sees himself as Sudan’s next dictator, while SAF generals believe they are the rightful rulers.

It’s important to note that most of the Sudanese people want neither in charge. A majority want a democratic, civilian government. There are also deep ethnic divisions driving the violence:

• SAF: Led mostly by elite Nile Valley Arab officers, some of Sudan’s most privileged groups. While SAF is ethnically mixed at the ground level, Arab supremacy and racism persist. Army units have carried out ethnically targeted attacks on civilians.

• RSF: Dominated by Arab tribes from Darfur. Many commanders and fighters hold a violent, extremely racist ideology that promotes the ethnic cleansing of Darfur’s African communities and subjugation of all other Sudanese Arab.

This map shows approximate areas of control in Sudan:

• Pink: Sudan Armed Forces and Joint Forces allies

• Green: Rapid Support Forces and militia allies

• Purple: SLM, a Darfuri rebel group from previous wars

• Yellow: SPLM-N, indigenous rebel group in the Nuba Mountains from previous wars

• Orange: RSF and SPLM-N have a fragile alliance with troops that overlap in some areas.

After capturing Khartoum earlier this year, SAF launched major offensives into central and south-central Sudan, expanding their control to El-Obied and pushing westward toward RSF strongholds in Darfur. The RSF has ground the army’s advance to a halt in North Kordofan and is now regaining limited ground in the province.

Meanwhile, a SAF garrison and their local allies have been driven out of El Fasher in North Darfur after a brutal RSF siege that has been underway since 2023. The RSF is now committing a genocide in the city.

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Map: Click or tap to expand. (source)

SAF’s long supply lines and ongoing fuel shortages —caused in part by RSF drone strikes on critical infrastructure— has weakened the army’s ability to continue advancing westward. The RSF is now operating closer to their main bases with tighter supply lines. Neither side seems capable of securing an outright victory. As the war grinds on, it’s the Sudanese people —trapped between bombs, drone strikes, food blockades, and targeted brutality— who continue to suffer most.

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Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis: The World’s Largest Emergency

It’s barely in the news, but Sudan is now collapsing before the world’s eyes. Khartoum’s neighborhoods lie in ruins. In the oppressed western Darfur region, entire communities are being annihilated by the RSF. Villages are burning, crops are rotting in the fields, and families are fleeing with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Food, medicine, and safety are all vanishing.

This war is just as much a war on the Sudanese people as it is between rival generals. The RSF is targeting ethnic African minorities for extermination and SAF is blocking aid access to large swaths of the country. War crimes are being committed en masse by both sides. The human toll is staggering:

• No one knows the death toll, but 200,000+ people have likely been killed by violence, starvation, and disease outbreaks. This is a conservative estimate based on the very little data that is available and is likely a severe undercount.

• A staggering 30 million Sudanese —over half of the entire country— are in need of humanitarian assistance. Over 8.7 million Sudanese have descended into emergency or famine conditions.

• Over 14 million people have fled their homes or have left Sudan as refugees.

• More than 65% of the country’s main hospitals are closed or destroyed, with the ones still functioning at risk of closure from shortages of medical staff, supplies, safe water, and electricity. Diseases outbreaks are spreading quickly, too.

• 90% of schools are closed, leaving 19 million children with no classroom to attend.

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Maps: The latest famine tracking and projections from The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. (source)

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What Are World Leaders Doing to End the War in Sudan?

World leaders have largely turned a blind eye as Sudan burns. A smattering of diplomatic efforts have failed to bring about a lasting ceasefire. International aid is only 27% funded for all of 2025 and the year is almost over, leaving millions of Sudanese facing hunger and disease. Even in refugee camps outside of Sudan, where aid is much easier to deliver, hunger is rampant due to the severe lack of attention.

The recent chaos the Trump Administration has inflicted on USAID —one of the largest providers of lifesaving food relief in Sudan— has resulted in the closure of over 60% of Sudanese-run emergency food kitchens, threatening to push more areas of the country into full-blown famine. Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, and Russia are reportedly making things worse by supplying weapons, mercenaries, and resources to either SAF or RSF, further fueling the violence.

Despite these challenges, ordinary Sudanese are still finding ways to help each other. The international community can and should be doing far more to support Sudanese-led initiatives and prevent a total collapse into failed statehood.

How You Can Help The People of Sudan

Operation Broken Silence is dedicated to Sudanese communities, cultivating resilience and driving meaningful change through crowdfunded programs. In October 2025, our supporters gave $28,751 to Sudanese heroes, including teachers, aid workers, sexual assault counselors, and healthcare professionals. Here’s how you can join us.

Our global event turns everyday runs, bike rides, and walks into lifesaving support. Every dollar you raise helps fund Sudanese heroes who are providing emergency aid, healthcare, and education to their people. We also have an option where you can skip the exercise and just fundraise. And the best part? Donations to your fundraising page will be matched!

Can’t fundraise right now? You can help by making a one-time donation or getting up a small monthly gift.

Make checks payable to Operation Broken Silence and mail to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177. You can also donate stock or crypto. We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our EIN is 80-0671198. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

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Thousands murdered as El Fasher falls to Rapid Support Forces

Background Image: Satellite imagery of El Fasher from Yale HRL. Foreground Image: RSF fighters in captured army base from social media.

A fast-paced genocide is unfolding in the city of El Fasher, Sudan. It’s estimated over 3,000 Sudanese have already been killed. The actual death toll is likely far higher.

•••••

The besieged capital of North Darfur and last army stronghold in western Sudan fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on October 26 and 27. The paramilitaries are now on a killing spree in the city, and the massacre is being committed at such breakneck speed that bodies and bloodstained soil can be seen by satellites.

Map: Location of El Fasher. (Operation Broken Silence)

El Fasher was surrounded by the RSF for nearly two years and under violent siege for most of that time. According to the United Nations, over one million people —almost certainly an undercount— have fled the Greater El Fasher area since the start of the war. It’s estimated 260,000 civilians, half of them children, remain trapped in the city today without aid.

Famine has been rampant in El Fasher for months, with many resorting to eating animal fodder to try to survive. Nearby displacement camps such as Zamzam and Abu Shouk were largely destroyed by extreme shelling and RSF looting throughout this year.

The army’s 6th Infantry Division, the Joint Forces —comprised of surviving Darfuri rebels from the 2000s genocide— and local militias had been defending El Fasher, supplied via infrequent airdrops by army cargo planes. After months of attritional attacks by the RSF and with dwindling ammunition, some of the army garrison and local officials managed to escape in a handful of armed convoys during the RSF takeover. Early reports suggest defending fighters who were left behind are being hunted down and executed by the RSF.

As we have noted for months in our own coverage, Sudanese in El Fasher were always going to be on borrowed time without a major and sustained outside intervention by either the army or international community. That intervention never came, deepening fears that when the RSF did capture the city, the genocidal paramilitary force would engage in a localized massacre on a scale unprecedented in our time.

The massacres are now underway

The RSF launched their final offensive on El Fasher roughly a week ago, breaching multiple defensive lines and invading neighborhoods from the north, east, and south. At some point over the weekend they seized control of the 6th Infantry Division’s headquarters —where some the heaviest armed resistance had been— forcing army troops and their allies to fall back into the city’s western neighborhoods.

Videos quickly emerged on social media showing RSF fighters inside army HQ and elsewhere in El Fasher. Virtually all communications networks in the city have since gone dark, and getting information out is now incredibly difficult. The army confirmed on Monday that its surviving forces have withdrawn from the city entirely.

What information that is available comes in the form of stories told by fleeing refugees, satellite imagery, and videos posted online by RSF perpetrators. Every indicator points to a massacre in progress, with the Joint Forces saying as early as Tuesday that the RSF had already executed more than 2,000 unarmed civilians. Sudan’s warring factions often inflate battlefield and civilian casualty numbers to try to boost their own standing, but this time it is likely an undercount, especially considering the speed at which the massacres are unfolding across the city.

Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) has been tracking the situation in El Fasher using satellite imagery and open-source data for months. In an interview given Tuesday, Director Nathaniel Raymond said HRL has evidence consistent with mass killings:

“We are only at the beginning of a wave of violence,” he said. “I have never seen a level of violence against an area like we are seeing now. This is only comparable with a Rwandan style killing in the first 24 hours.”

Some of that evidence can be seen in two new reports issued by HRL, on October 27 and October 28, respectively. Multiple satellite images show “dark colored objects consistent with the size of human bodies” with “reddish ground discoloration” underneath in areas where the RSF is running house-to-house clearance operations. Translation: these are massacre sites with clusters of bodies and bloodstained soil.

Image by Yale HRL

In a press release on October 28, Yale HRL adds:

The Yale School of Public Health’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) corroborates evidence of continuing mass killing in the past 48 hours since RSF took control of El-Fasher. These mass killing events include corroboration of alleged executions around Saudi Hospital and a previously unreported potential mass killing at an RSF detention site at the former Children’s Hospital in eastern El-Fasher. Yale HRL concludes that systematic killing in the vicinity of the earthen wall, hereafter berm, outside the city is continuing.

Mass Killing at Former Children’s Hospital, El-Fasher North Darfur (13.6217898, 25.3826549)

Apparent Mass Killing at Saudi Hospital (13.629694679116708, 25.329653418909288)

Systematic Mass Killings of People along the Berm

Red Crescent Society of Sudan (RCS) Office, El-Fasher (13.629489605115484, 25.356066434927207)

Survivor testimony has corroborated the nature of these killings:

• A nurse working at El Fasher South hospital told The Guardian “They killed six wounded soldiers and civilians in their beds – some of them women. I don’t know what happened to my other patients. I had to run when they (RSF) stormed the hospital.”

• The World Health Organization says that on October 28, six health workers, four doctors, a nurse and a pharmacist were abducted and that the RSF shot and killed over 460 patients and their companions in the hospital. 

• Meanwhile, the Associated Press is reporting that RSF fighters are going “from house to house, beating and shooting people, including women and children…Many died of gunshot wounds in the streets, some while trying to flee to safety, witnesses said.”

Over 26,000 individuals fled El Fasher on foot between October 26-29. Many headed toward Tawila roughly 34 miles west of El Fasher. That town and surrounding areas are under the control of an independent Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction, a surviving rebel group from a previous war. Tawila is now the last true safe haven in all of western Sudan and is already sheltering 650,000+ displaced people. Many new arrivals from El Fasher are showing up hungry and dehydrated, some wounded, and all with stories of losing loved ones.

A brief history of how we got here

Sudan is home to the world largest humanitarian emergency and one of the worst armed conflicts in modern history. Fighting between the army and RSF has left Khartoum in ruins. In the oppressed western Darfur region, entire communities are being annihilated by the RSF. Villages are burning and families are fleeing with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Hardly any of this ever makes international news, which goes to show just how horrifying this massacre is, that it’s finally breaking into news cycles.

Sudan Crisis Guide

Trying to make sense of the war in Sudan? We’ll get you up to speed in a few minutes.

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Darfur is not only home to historically-persecuted African tribes, but also their main oppressor: the Rapid Support Forces. The RSF was born from the Arab militias that spearheaded the 2000s Darfur genocide. Those militias were known as janjaweed, a term loosely understood as devils on horseback. With arms provided by the Khartoum regime, the janjaweed massacred ethnically African villages and destroyed clean water wells, orchards and farms, and markets.

In 2013, the regime consolidated the janjaweed into the Rapid Support Forces and outfitted them with machine gun-mounted trucks, artillery and rockets, and anti-aircraft guns. The RSF quickly spread into other parts of Sudan and expanded into mercenary recruitment in Chad, Central African Republic, and even as far away as Mali.

The army teamed up with the RSF in October 2021, overthrowing a transitional government that was steering Sudan toward a democratic future. The RSF’s participation in the coup showed the paramilitary force’s power rivaled the army. Both sides expected to be the top player in a new regime. Predictably, in April 2023, the army and RSF went to war with each other in Khartoum. Hundreds of miles away in Darfur, communities braced for an inevitable return to mass killing.

Within days the RSF launched a long-planned assault on Darfur’s African tribes, most notably the Masalit in West Darfur, where an estimated 15,000 people were exterminated in the state capital alone. The situation spiraled further in October 2023, when the RSF launched a lightening offensive across Darfur that saw state capitals and towns fall. El Fasher was spared due to a fragile ceasefire brokered by local leaders. Many people unable to escape Darfur fled into the city, one of the last safe havens in all of western Sudan.

The El Fasher ceasefire fully collapsed in April 2024, when the RSF cut off the last road into the area, trapping a then-estimated two million Sudanese with dwindling food, water, and health services. The situation has worsened ever since, with the army and its allies barely able to fight off constant onslaughts by the RSF. While there have been moments when people have been able to escape El Fasher and the surrounding displacement camps en masse, many have been robbed, beaten, raped, and even killed by the RSF as they fled.

The big picture

At the time of this posting the RSF massacre is ongoing. The Sudan Doctors Network described the situation on Wednesday as “a true genocide…The massacres the world is witnessing today are an extension of what occurred in El Fasher more than a year and a half ago, when over 14,000 civilians were killed through bombing, starvation, and extrajudicial executions.”

The fall of El Fasher will loom large over all of Sudan in the coming months, if not years. The RSF now control all five state capitals in western Sudan and most of Darfur’s rural areas. RSF commanders deployed significant man/firepower to capturing and massacring El Fasher, and they paid a heavy price themselves for its capture. Several RSF leaders and countless fighters were killed by the city’s now-routed defenders.

Map: Click or tap to expand. (source)

Zooming out, once the RSF feels that El Fasher is firmly under its tyrannical control, many of its fighters will likely be deployed north and east to the main battle lines. In recent months the army has struggled to advance toward the Darfur provinces and even lost minimal ground the past few weeks. The arrival of thousands of battle-hardened RSF fighters from El Fasher to the front lines will almost certainly set the army back even further.

The army’s leadership is again facing mounting frustration that had subsided some earlier in the year, when army troops captured Khartoum and made a significant push westward. With battlefield progress once again stalled and the army losing another major city to the RSF, questions about General Buhran’s ability to lead the army are likely to resurface. Ongoing frustration could easily give way to unexpected changes in the army itself, some of which could be bloody, unless the army can shift the tide of the war again.

Altogether and put simply, the war and humanitarian crisis still have no end in sight. And the worst may still lie ahead.

This massacre was preventable

And what of the Sudanese who manage to escape the genocide in El Fasher? Most all will face the pangs of hunger and preventable illness wherever they go. International aid is only 27% funded for all of 2025 and the year is almost over. The refugee camps in eastern Chad are overwhelmed. Those reaching Tawila in the heart of Darfur are finding safety, but few medical and humanitarian services. As has been the case throughout this war, another stage of the humanitarian crisis is brewing from another round of senseless carnage.

The international community had ample time and warning to intervene by air and on the ground in El Fasher, either through the forceful delivery of aid or even more aggressive measures. Indeed, what we are seeing in El Fasher is one of the most predicted genocides in modern history. It has been well over a year since the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding that the RSF end its siege of El Fasher and allow for aid access. RSF commanders ignored these hollow words. The political will never emerged to prevent the massacres that are now unfolding in El Fasher, and there is still a lack of will to provide mere humanitarian aid to survivors.

The promise of “never again” when it comes to genocide is being broken by world leaders yet again. It now falls to ordinary citizens to do what we can to save and change lives for the better.

How you can help

Our free global event turns everyday runs, bike rides, and walks into lifesaving support. Every mile you put in and dollar you raise helps fund emergency aid, healthcare, and education programs led by Sudanese heroes. We also have an option where you can skip the exercise and just fundraise. Every dollar raised makes a difference. Donations are being matched for a limited time!

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900. You can also donate stock or crypto. Operation Broken Silence a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. Our EIN is 80-0671198.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Reddit | LinkedIn

• The besieged capital of North Darfur and last army stronghold in western Sudan fell to the Rapid Support Forces on October 26-27. The resulting massacre is being committed at such breakneck speed that bodies and bloodstained soil can be seen by satellites. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/thousands-murdered-as-el-fasher-falls-to-rapid-support-forces

• A fast-paced genocide is unfolding in the city of El Fasher, Sudan. It’s estimated over 3,000 Sudanese have already been killed. The actual death toll is likely far higher. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/thousands-murdered-as-el-fasher-falls-to-rapid-support-forces

• Multiple satellite images show “dark colored objects consistent with the size of human bodies” with “reddish ground discoloration” underneath in areas where the RSF is running house-to-house clearance operations. Translation: these are massacre sites with clusters of bodies and bloodstained soil. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/thousands-murdered-as-el-fasher-falls-to-rapid-support-forces

• Sudanese in El Fasher were always going to be on borrowed time without a major and sustained outside intervention by either the army or international community. That intervention never came, deepening fears that when the RSF did capture the city, the genocidal paramilitary force would engage in a localized massacre on a scale unprecedented in our time. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/thousands-murdered-as-el-fasher-falls-to-rapid-support-forces

• Operation Broken Silence is dedicated to Sudanese communities, cultivating resilience and driving meaningful change through crowdfunded programs. Will you join us? https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/thousands-murdered-as-el-fasher-falls-to-rapid-support-forces

Letter to Representative Chris Smith concerning genocide emergency in El Fasher

Representative Chris Smith (U.S. House of Representatives)

Operation Broken Silence is joining over 30 organizations in urging Representative Chris Smith, a long-time advocate and friend to the Sudanese people, to bring the urgent situation in Sudan to the White House.

Sudan is home to the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe. The country is collapsing after two and a half years of brutal warfare between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Neighborhoods in Khartoum lie in ruins. In Darfur, entire communities have already been wiped out by RSF-led violence. Families are fleeing with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Famine is spreading, and access to basic healthcare is disappearing.

There is perhaps no other place more dangerous in Sudan than El Fasher in North Darfur. The city has been surrounded by the RSF for 16 months, and the nearby displacement camps are now largely destroyed after months of extreme shelling and RSF killings. Defending El Fasher is the army’s 6th Infantry Division, surviving Darfuri rebels from the 2000s genocide, pro-army militias, and volunteer Zaghawa fighters trying to protect their people. The United Nations estimates at least 260,000 Sudanese citizens are still trapped in the area, nearly half of which are children.

It is widely expected that if the RSF overruns the Greater El Fasher area, the genocidal paramilitary force will engage in a massacre on a scale unprecedented in the 21st century.

Many residents and displaced people here belong to ethnic African groups like the Zaghawa and Fur that the predominantly Arab RSF is openly targeting for annihilation. A sizable portion of the RSF rank and file adheres to an extremely racist, Arab-supremacist ideology that seeks to ethnically cleanse Darfur of African tribal groups and claims all other Sudanese Arabs are inferior.

The international community has now had 16 months to take decisive action on the genocide emergency in El Fasher, and Sudan more broadly. What little progress that was being made was due to American policy under the Biden Administration. That has since ended under the Trump Administration. There is still no US Special Envoy for Sudan and USAID-backed programs in Sudan have been gutted.

Today, security conditions in El Fasher are rapidly worsening. It is all but certain that the RSF will overrun the city in the next few weeks, if not sooner. This situation was preventable. At any point in the last 16 months the international community could have taken decisive action to get more food and medicine into the city, as well as reduce the free flow of weapons to the RSF, weapons that have allowed this siege to continue. World leaders chose not to act. Tens of thousands of lives hang by a thread because of it.

In what are likely these final days for El Fasher as it has long been known, there is still time to act. We hope Representative Smith once again raises his voice to the highest levels of American government on behalf of the Sudanese people. There is still time to stave off the looming massacre.

Get Involved

Our free global event turns everyday runs, bike rides, and walks into lifesaving support. Every mile you put in and dollar you raise helps fund emergency aid and long-term education programs led by Sudanese heroes. Not a fan of fitness? We have an option where you can skip the moving and just fundraise. Every dollar raised still makes a difference. Donations are being matched for a limited time!

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900. You can also donate stock or crypto. Operation Broken Silence a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our EIN is 80-0671198. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Reddit | LinkedIn

• Operation Broken Silence is joining over 30 organizations in urging Representative Chris Smith, a long-time advocate and friend to the Sudanese people, to bring the urgent situation in Sudan to the White House.   https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/letter-to-representative-chris-smith-concerning-genocide-emergency-in-el-fasher

• Sudan is home to the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe. The country is collapsing after two and a half years of brutal warfare between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/letter-to-representative-chris-smith-concerning-genocide-emergency-in-el-fasher

• It is widely expected that if the Rapid Support Forces overrun the Greater El Fasher area, the genocidal paramilitary force will engage in a massacre on a scale unprecedented in the 21st century. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/letter-to-representative-chris-smith-concerning-genocide-emergency-in-el-fasher

• Operation Broken Silence is dedicated to Sudanese communities, cultivating resilience and driving meaningful change through crowdfunded programs. Will you join us? https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/letter-to-representative-chris-smith-concerning-genocide-emergency-in-el-fasher

Hard evidence emerges of chemical weapons attacks in Sudan

The U.S. State Department announced in May 2025 that the Sudanese army had used chemical weapons in the current war. This announcement came with no details about which chemical agents were used by the army, or where and at what scale, except that such weapons were deployed in 2024.

Sudan is home to the world largest humanitarian emergency, sparked by one of the worst armed conflicts in modern history. Fighting between the army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a rogue paramilitary force wielding tremendous firepower, has left Khartoum in ruins. In the oppressed western Darfur region, entire communities are being annihilated by the RSF. Villages are burning, crops are rotting in the fields, and families are fleeing with nothing but the clothes on their backs. And it’s hardly ever in the news.

Sudan Crisis Guide

Trying to make sense of the war in Sudan? We’ll get you up to speed in a few minutes.

Learn More

Rumors of chemical weapons being deployed in Sudan have persisted throughout this war, as well as for decades before. The United States bombed an industrial plant in Khartoum in 1998 that it said was processing a VX nerve agent, a claim that came under serious question in the aftermath.

A substantial 2016 investigation by Amnesty International found credible evidence that chemical weapons had been used to kill and maim hundreds of Sudanese in Darfur, including children. Anecdotal accounts have leaked out of the oppressed Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions for years as well, often with fleeing refugees who saw strange, gaseous munitions explode.

Now a new investigation by France 24’s Observers team provides the first public evidence to corroborate the State Department’s allegations, indicating that Sudan’s army likely used chlorine gas in September 2024:

Using open-source investigation techniques (OSINT), the FRANCE 24 Observers team in Paris examined two incidents in September 2024 in and near the al-Jaili oil refinery, north of Khartoum, which the army was attempting to recapture from the RSF. After reviewing images of the attacks gathered by the Observers, five experts confirmed they were consistent with aerial drops of chlorine barrels. Only the Sudanese army possesses the aircraft needed for such bombardments.

The Observers team also traced the origin of one of the chlorine barrels used in the attacks. Imported from India by a Sudanese company that provides supplies to the Sudanese army, the chlorine was intended, according to the Indian exporter, “solely for treatment of drinking water”. Chlorine is a much-needed humanitarian product in Sudan, critical for purifying water in a country prone to cholera outbreaks.

The military use of chlorine would place Sudan among the few regimes to have deployed this rudimentary lethal gas since World War I, during which it was used on a large scale.

What is chlorine gas?

According to Physicians for Human Rights, chlorine gas is a pulmonary irritant with intermediate water solubility that causes acute damage in the upper and lower respiratory tract. At room temperature, it is a dense, yellow-green gas that settles along the ground. Chlorine gas causes oral, nasal, and ocular discomfort that serves as a warning property to get out of the area of exposure and limit pulmonary damage, which may occur with prolonged exposure. Chlorine gas turns to hydrochloric acid when it makes contact with moisture in airways; it then causes chemical burns to all respiratory tissue it contacts.

Screengrab from a video posted to a pro-RSF account in May 2025 and geolocated to the Barri military base, shows a yellow-green cloud characteristic of chlorine.

Exposure to chlorine gas can lead to diverse symptoms that are as mild as itchiness to shortness of breath to as severe as death. In the France 24 report, chemical weapons specialist Dan Kaszeta said of these specific attacks in Sudan:

“The symptoms of chlorine gas exposure are relatively generic, with few clearly identifiable signs. In reality, it is very difficult to kill someone with this gas when it is dispersed in the open air, in this way. It is mostly used as a strong irritant, to force opponents out of shelters and make them vulnerable to conventional bombardment.”

From another part of the France 24 report:

The Observers spoke with a former engineer who was inside the refinery on September 13, along with many other workers. For his safety, his name has been withheld. Now living abroad, he provided evidence of his employment at the al-Jaili refinery, as well as screenshots showing that he had reported the incident to contacts on the morning of  September 13. By phone, he said:

“It was early, around 8am. I was in my room, where we were housed. I heard a plane coming, and then there was a huge noise, like something falling. I went outside with two friends, and I saw a lot of smoke. Luckily I wasn’t near the zone. After 30 minutes, we went to see the place where the projectiles had fallen. The people near them were unconscious, or having trouble breathing, and coughing. We helped them, with the security staff, and took them to the refinery’s clinic.”

The engineer’s account is consistent with the images and witness statements posted online. He also said that some of the victims died after the incident. The Observers team was unable to confirm this allegation, and no other sources mention any deaths in connection with the two incidents.

Weaponized chlorine is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, to which Sudan is a member. The use of “asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases” on battlefields is also classified as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Confirming army responsibility

While no images of army aircraft dropping chlorine barrels has emerged, just the immediate aftermath, it is well known that the army is the only force inside Sudan with the aerial capacity to drop chlorine barrels of this size.

The RSF only has drones for aerial bombing, which are not capable of carrying barrels this heavy. Cargo planes have been spotted in RSF-held areas of Sudan, especially at Nyala airport in South Darfur, but it is generally known these planes are delivering weapons to the RSF, likely from the United Arab Emirates. No documentation, imagery, or eyewitness accounts exist of the RSF conducting airstrikes with planes or helicopters. Sudan’s other smaller rebel, paramilitary, and militia groups have little to no air capacity at all.

That leaves the army. It’s also worth noting at the reported time of these likely chlorine attacks, the army had been battling to recapture the al-Jaili facility from the RSF for months. Although chlorine gas has rarely been deployed since WWI, its use as a weapon to try to “flush out” entrenched combatants matches the army’s combat objectives at the time. The army has repeatedly denied

What does all this mean for Sudan’s present situation? The widespread and heavy use of conventional munitions in areas of combat shows the war will continue with or without chemical weapons and continue to be immensely destructive. Still, the use of chemical weapons is just the latest reminder that, even with how bad the situation in Sudan already is, things can still get much worse. Reductions of violence and more humanitarian aid in any and all forms can save many lives, even if the war itself continues.

How you can help

Our free global event turns everyday runs, bike rides, and walks into lifesaving support. Every mile you put in and dollar you raise helps fund emergency aid and long-term education programs led by Sudanese heroes. Not a fan of fitness? We have an option where you can skip the moving and just fundraise. Every dollar raised still makes a difference. Donations are being matched for a limited time!

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900. You can also donate stock or crypto. Operation Broken Silence a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. Our EIN is 80-0671198.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Reddit | LinkedIn

• A new investigation provides the first public evidence of chemical weapons usage on Sudan’s battlefields, indicating the national army likely used chlorine gas in September 2024. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hard-evidence-emerges-of-chemical-weapons-attacks-in-sudan

• Rumors of chemical weapons being deployed in Sudan have persisted throughout this war, as well as for decades before. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hard-evidence-emerges-of-chemical-weapons-attacks-in-sudan

• The military use of chlorine would place Sudan among the few regimes to have deployed this rudimentary lethal gas since World War I, during which it was used on a large scale. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hard-evidence-emerges-of-chemical-weapons-attacks-in-sudan

• While no images of army aircraft dropping chlorine barrels has emerged, just the immediate aftermath, it is well known that the army is the only force inside Sudan with the aerial capacity to drop chlorine barrels of this size. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hard-evidence-emerges-of-chemical-weapons-attacks-in-sudan

• Operation Broken Silence is dedicated to Sudanese communities, cultivating resilience and driving meaningful change through crowdfunded programs. Will you join us? https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/hard-evidence-emerges-of-chemical-weapons-attacks-in-sudan

Chalkboards delivered to schools in Yida Refugee Camp

The war in Sudan has decimated childhood education. Across the border in Yida Refugee Camp, we’re still doing our small part to help.

•••••

In 2014, we began funding four Nuba teachers in Yida Refugee Camp —just south of Sudan’s Nuba Mountains— who were teaching under a tree. All they had was a half broken chalkboard. Over the years and with your help their efforts grew into the Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools, where 22 local teachers serve more than 900 students every week.

Today, across Sudan, children are experiencing an education crisis unparalleled in recent history. Most schools have closed from the war, and it’s estimated over 19 million children are out of a classroom. Many may never have the chance to return. Refugee camps like Yida are some of the only places where Sudanese children can safely access education right now.

But even in the camps support for education is scarce due to a veil of silence around these problems. With crises raging in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as as political turmoil in the United States, there are few Sudan-minded donors today, and even fewer concerned about childhood education.

As we mentioned in our previous update, these challenges have become to difficult for us to continue wading through. We are now preparing to wind down operations at Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary through the end of the year as we shift into delivering a limited amount of supplies to Yida’s other schools moving forward.

The good news is that last week our education partner was able to deliver 40 chalkboards to other schools in Yida. All the schools here are severely under-resourced. Providing basic materials like chalkboards may not sound super exciting, but it’s a huge boon for teachers and students who are struggling to forge a better path.

This couldn’t have been possible without your support! Your generosity today helps build stronger classrooms —and brighter futures— for Sudanese children who have already overcome so much.

What’s Next?

📖 Textbooks are needed! Our education partner is working on the details and budgeting that out, but we are going ahead and starting our fundraising.

We are currently 1% of the way to reaching our $5,000 goal! Make a donation or set up a small monthly gift to support these teachers and students.

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence with Education written in the memo line and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900. You can also donate stock or crypto.

Can’t give? Sign up for Miles For Sudan, our global event to aid Sudanese heroes!

Operation Broken Silence a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. Our EIN is 80-0671198.

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Short statements you can share online and text to others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Reddit | LinkedIn

• The war in Sudan has decimated childhood education. Across the border in Yida Refugee Camp, we’re still doing our small part to help. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/chalkboards-delivered-to-schools-in-yida-refugee-camp

• Even in the camps support for education is scarce due to a veil of silence around these problems. With crises raging in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as as political turmoil in the United States, there are few Sudan-minded donors today, and even fewer concerned about childhood education. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/chalkboards-delivered-to-schools-in-yida-refugee-camp

• Good news! Last week our education partner was able to deliver 40 chalkboards to other schools in Yida. Learn more: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/chalkboards-delivered-to-schools-in-yida-refugee-camp

• Operation Broken Silence is dedicated to Sudanese communities, cultivating resilience and driving meaningful change through crowdfunded programs. Will you join us? https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/chalkboards-delivered-to-schools-in-yida-refugee-camp

Nuba Education Update - September 2025

Program Background

Operation Broken Silence is the only nonprofit in the world consistently supporting childhood education in Yida Refugee Camp, just south of Sudan’s historically-oppressed Nuba Mountains. We began funding four Sudanese teachers here in 2015 who were giving lessons underneath a tree with a half-broken chalkboard. Over the years and with your support, this determined effort has grown into the Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary Schools:

• 22 Nuba teachers and 4 support staff

• 915 students in total attendance - Endure Primary (638 students) and Renewal Secondary (277 students)

Students at Endure Primary regularly have some of the top-performing standardized testing scores in the region. Renewal Secondary is the only fully-functioning high school in Yida.

Our teachers also assist with a national exam prep program for primary students in Yida, occasionally deliver a limited amount of supplies to a handful of other schools, and assist with teaching at the only other secondary school in the camp.

All of this is possible because of the resilience of the Nuba people partnered with the generosity of people like you. The teachers and students work hard every day with encouragement from local families and rely on funding we provide to continue doing so.

Map by Operation Broken Silence

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Recent Updates

Endure Primary & Renewal Secondary. Life at the schools continues largely uninterrupted despite the war and famine in Sudan, as well as the massive education crisis from so many Sudanese schools being closed. Attendance has risen slightly to 915 students total throughout the year as new refugees from the Nuba Mountains to as far away as Khartoum have arrived in Yida.

National exams are approaching again and we expect another round of good results. Last year, 68 students at Endure Primary and 72 students at Renewal Secondary did well on their exams. The teachers and students are hopeful for similar results this year.

The wall and roofing repairs we mentioned in our last update are now mostly completed thanks to the generosity of several individual donors.

We’re also excited to announce that one of our few church partners has pledged to donate new chalkboards not only to classrooms at Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary, but also to other schools in Yida. We should get the funds out the door for that in early October.

Supplementary Education Support. Endure Primary School continues helping with national exam preparation for primary students in Yida, something that will start up again soon. Vision Secondary, the only other high school in Yida, continues to benefit from a handful of our teachers assisting with leading specific courses. Our Nuba education partner also recently delivered 6 boxes of chalk, 200 pens, 24 grading pens, 80 manilla folders, 18 plastic sheets for weather-proofing, and 6 new black boards to be used Yida.

War, other challenges, and a shift in direction

The devastating war between the army and Rapid Support Forces has decimated Sudan’s schools. It’s now estimated 90% of all Sudanese children don’t have a school to attend. Local officials estimate hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have fled into the Nuba Mountains as war and famine have spread, placing significant strains on the fragile region. Sporadic fighting on the western and northern frontlines in Nuba has further exacerbated needs.

While Yida remains an oasis of calm, this crisis still casts a dark shadow. Teachers and families are war-weary and frustrated that the world is still largely looking away from their country’s plight. For the schools though, funding remains the largest obstacle. Rapidly rising costs and a difficult international fundraising environment since 2020 mean they’re only getting about 35% of the funding they need. Most Sudan-minded donors are just not interested in childhood education, and that’s become an even steeper uphill battle in the wake of the current war.

There are still no signs fundraising for the schools will get easier any time soon. And if violence does erupt on a larger scale or humanitarian conditions worsen further across the border, larger refugee flows into Yida will begin, placing an even heavier strain on the fragile education system. We already don’t have the resources to mount an adequate response now, much more if things worsen.

Brave teachers and students have continued on this year despite these challenges; however, with everything more expensive and difficult, it’s become clear we’ve reached the point where something has to give. Our education partner has had many conversations on the ground in Yida the past several weeks about the challenges here. After a lot of thought and time spent in the community, they have recommended that we begin winding down operations at Endure Primary and Renewal Secondary through the end of the year, and then shift into delivering supplies to Yida’s other schools starting in 2026.

We agree this is the best course of action. It’s a bittersweet moment; so much good work has been done here the past 10 years. While our schools were never meant to be permanent, the positive effects you’ve helped make possible will be felt for years ahead. A number of students who have graduated have gone on to teach at other schools, and even more have taken their education into Yida’s market or back to their communities in the Nuba Mountains.

We hope to have a more concrete timeline for this transition soon and are excited for what lies ahead, but mostly we are grateful to all of you for being a part of this story. As one chapter closes and another begins, there is still much work to be done.

How You Can Help

Our free global event turns everyday runs, bike rides, and walks into life changing support. Every mile you put in and dollar you raise helps fund emergency aid and long-term education programs led by Sudanese heroes. Not a fan of fitness? We have an option where you can skip the moving and just fundraise. Every dollar raised still makes a difference, with donations through fundraising page are being matched for a limited time!

If fundraising is not your thing, we encourage you to make a one-time donation or setup a small monthly gift below.

$9,500: Helps cover teacher salaries through the end of the year.

$5,000: Fund an entire classroom for one year.

$1,250: Provide pencils, notebooks and other supplies to 200 students.

$500: Help deliver more chalkboards to classrooms.

$250: Provide pencils, notebooks and other supplies to 40 students.

$100: Give soccer balls and other sporting equipment to students.

Checks can be made payable to Operation Broken Silence with Education written in the memo line and mailed to PO Box 770900 Memphis, TN 38177-0900. You can also donate stock or crypto.

Operation Broken Silence is a registered 501(c)(3) organization. Your donations are tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law.

Shareables

Short statements you can share online and with others. Simply copy and paste.

• Share Our Posts: Instagram | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Reddit | LinkedIn

• Operation Broken Silence is the only nonprofit in the world consistently supporting childhood education in Yida Refugee Camp, just south of Sudan’s historically-oppressed Nuba Mountains. They rely on supporters like you to continue doing so. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-september-2025

• Life at the schools continues largely uninterrupted despite the war and famine in Sudan, as well as the massive education crisis from so many Sudanese schools being closed. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-september-2025

• Sudan is home to the largest and most dangerous humanitarian emergency, far outpacing every other crisis in the world. The county is also home the largest children’s education crisis as most schools are closed. Here’s one way to help: https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-september-2025

• Teachers in Yida are a small bulwark against the massive education crisis Sudanese kids face. Your generosity can make the difference now and help the teachers prepare for what lies ahead. https://operationbrokensilence.org/blog/nuba-education-update-september-2025