Aid agencies in Sudan are running out of supplies just as more people need help. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) appealed on Friday for more international aid, UN News reported via AllAfrica. In a joint statement, they said funding shortages mean they can reach only around one in 10 people in need.
Mohamed Refaat, IOM's chief of mission in Sudan, said 16 trucks had just reached Darfur. They were the last of the agency's stocks. "Our supplies are running out," Refaat said from Khartoum. He added that IOM had distributed more than 40,000 tonnes of relief this year, but its warehouses are now completely empty.
About 15.4 million people urgently need shelter across Sudan. War broke out there in April 2023 between former allies turned rival military forces. Refaat said aid access has improved, so agencies can reach more people. That also means they hear more stories of suffering. "We cannot say that we don't know," he said.
Abubakarr Jalloh, UNHCR's deputy representative in Sudan, said shifting front lines keep forcing families to flee. Many have no safe place to sleep, not even a blanket. He said three in four internally displaced people are women and children. Below-average rainfall linked to El Niño has hit harvests in Darfur, Kordofan and other war-torn areas. Jalloh said food prices remain "painfully high" even after the harvest season.
More than 5.2 million people have returned to their home areas, according to the agencies. Many cannot go back to their houses because countless homes were destroyed or looted. Healthcare, electricity and water are largely unavailable in many places, so people may be forced to leave again.
Refaat said Sudanese nationals now make up the largest group arriving in Europe via the Eastern Mediterranean route. He warned that neighbouring and other countries will feel the impact if aid cannot be delivered at scale inside Sudan. Sudan faces the world's largest displacement crisis. Yet its 2026 humanitarian plan has received only 47 per cent of the $2.9 billion it seeks.
The agencies warned that without urgent, flexible funding, more families will face the coming winter without protection from harsh weather, insecurity, violence and exploitation.