Sudan Can’t Endure Another Day of War – the World Must Act Now
*Ramtane Lamamra
No one knows exactly how many people have died in Sudan since 15 April 2023, when the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) turned their weapons on each other. But one thing is sure: the toll is staggering, and it continues to worsen.
One in four Sudanese — almost 12 million people — have been driven from their homes. To grasp the scale, imagine every single person in California, New York, and Florida suddenly forced to flee due to war.
You may not know it from the scant headlines, but Sudan has long been the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Over 30 million people require humanitarian assistance. Sudan continues to face worsening food security conditions and a sharp rise in malnutrition. Fighting is fueling the spread of cholera and other infectious diseases. Gender-based violence has reached alarming levels, and the conflict has left 17 million children out of school, fueling a generational catastrophe.
Sudan’s violence and fragmentation further threaten to burst beyond its borders. The region teeters on the edge, with rising risks of cross-border clashes, insecurity along the Red Sea, deeper foreign interference, and fertile ground for extremist groups to take root. It is a reckless race to the bottom. And the bottom keeps collapsing beneath us.
But it is not too late to change course. The SAF and the RSF can still pull Sudan back from the abyss, with the right mix of political will, pressure, and support. Most pressingly, the parties must agree to immediately cease hostilities and turn to genuine dialogue to address their grievances. After many years spent helping to resolve some of the world’s most intractable crises, I have been able to confirm that “jaw-jaw is better than war-war", as the former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan is famously quoted as saying. There is today a narrow – but fast-closing – window for such discussions. The rainy season is settling in, and ground fighting could diminish in the near term. Alongside key international partners, I remain ready to explore with the parties de-escalation measures that could allow aid to flow, harvests to be protected, and homes, schools, and hospitals to be spared. Such steps can build trust. More urgently, they could save many lives.
Peace in Sudan will remain elusive, though, unless every external actor begins pulling in the same direction. In every capital I visited—from Washington to Moscow, and from Cairo to Abu Dhabi—I urged leaders to bring their political weight to ensure the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid, but to help forge a credible political path out of this devastating war.
A peaceful and prosperous Sudan is in everyone’s interest – from neighbors in the Horn of Africa to countries across the Red Sea, and other nations and global powers further afield. At moments like this, unity and resolve within the UN Security Council are key. It offers a real chance to forge the political alignment needed to bring the belligerents and their backers to the table and end the war. The world must step up, applying pressure on the SAF and the RSF that is real, sustained, and impossible to ignore. In this context, the United States’ leadership in bringing together the ‘Quad’— comprising Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates—is important and welcome.
A core part of my mission has been to ensure that international peace initiatives, which have been somewhat fragmented over the past two years, are better coordinated and more effective. I have witnessed firsthand the transformative impact that years of joint African Union and United Nations efforts have had on the lives of millions of Sudanese. That spirit of cooperation must be revived and reinforced so that, together, we can continue to make a positive difference.
Progress must happen fast.
Since my appointment, I have listened to Sudanese civilians from all walks of life, women and men, young and old, from every political and ethnic background. It is civilians who have paid the highest price for this brutal war, with their voices struggling to be heard amid the gunfire. And yet their message to the SAF, the RSF, and those who support them is resoundingly clear: stop this horrific violence. I pay tribute to their unwavering commitment to peace, and I stand ready to work alongside them as I continue to devote my full energy to advancing diplomatic efforts. The people of Sudan deserve the chance to plan for a future of dignity, peace, and possibility. We must no longer turn our eyes away.
The international community must unite and rally behind this effort to accelerate peace in Sudan. We can no longer afford to watch from the sidelines as Sudanese lives are lost.
*Ramtane Lamamra is Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the Sudan
