9 September 2025 | 08:20 CAT
1-minute read

Sudan’s civil war delivers catastrophic humanitarian breakdown: Journalist Saeed Abdalla urges global intervention

Overview
Saeed Abdalla, a Sudanese journalist currently based in Johannesburg, offers a haunting account of the devastation gripping his country. He underscores that civilians—displaced, hungry, and injured—are bearing the heaviest burden of a conflict marked by war crimes, famine, and unfolding natural tragedy.

The UN’s latest investigation condemns Sudan’s war as “a war of atrocities,” accusing both the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of orchestrating widespread attacks on civilians, hospitals, and essential infrastructure. The report urges prosecutions at the International Criminal Court, arms embargo enforcement, and increased global pressure

Saeed Abdalla spoke to Radio Islam International during this week’s Africa Report and emphasised that civilians are “paying the highest price.”

This reflects reality: Sudan now hosts the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, with more than 11 million people forced from their homes, many of them children. Overall, over 30 million people—almost two thirds of the nation—now require humanitarian aid.

Darfur’s al-Fashr town, surviving a 500-day siege, is now trapped by shelling and a cholera outbreak, while children suffer from acute food shortages. Saeed describes “cities under siege, homes and hospitals destroyed, famine conditions spreading.”

Amid the war, a landslide in Tarsin village, Jebel Marra, reportedly killed over 1 000 people, leaving just one survivor. The UN offers a more conservative estimate but confirms the tragedy amid the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Rescue efforts remain stalled due to conflict and terrain.

Saeed highlights that children are the silent casualties—exposed to daily horrors of executions, rape, torture, and malnutrition. Currently, 50% of Sudan’s population—some 25 million people, nearly 14 million of them children—are in urgent need. Many face severe acute malnutrition and disease outbreaks.

Saeed relays the UN’s urgent appeal: ending the war, opening humanitarian corridors, and funding relief. Reconstruction will take years, and recovery cannot wait. The world’s attention must not shift away from Sudan.

Watch the Africa Report on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.