Sudan: Closed Consultations
Tomorrow afternoon (9 February), Security Council members are expected to hold closed consultations on Sudan. The expected briefers are Director of the Crisis Response Division at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Edem Wosornu and Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations at the World Food Programme (WFP) Matthew Hollingworth. The UK (the penholder on Sudan), together with Bahrain and Denmark (the Council’s co-focal points on conflict and hunger), requested the meeting following the issuance of the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) alert on Sudan on 5 February.
The alert raised alarm about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan regions. It follows the November 2025 IPC report which found famine conditions in several conflict-affected areas in Sudan, including El Fasher (the capital of North Darfur state) and Kadugli (the capital of South Kordofan state).
The latest alert reported that famine thresholds for acute malnutrition had been surpassed in two new localities in North Darfur—Um Baru and Kernoi—indicating a heightened risk of excess mortality and raising concerns that neighbouring areas may be experiencing similar catastrophic conditions. The alert further noted that units of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a Sudanese paramilitary group, were advancing in the areas around Um Baru and Kernoi, forcing thousands of civilians to flee from urban centres to rural areas within their localities or towards the Chadian border.
Regarding El Fasher, the alert indicated that most civilians have either fled the town or died since late October 2025, when the RSF launched an assault and subsequently captured large parts of the city, leaving fewer than 100,000 people trapped. By the end of 2025, the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) originating from the El Fasher locality had risen to an estimated 1.22 million. The alert warned that the humanitarian situation along the El Fasher-Tine corridor towards Chad is expected to deteriorate further in the absence of an immediate cessation of hostilities and a large-scale humanitarian response, noting that preventable deaths are already occurring and are likely to increase without urgent action. Security conditions are also worsening in South Darfur state, particularly in and around the capital city of Nyala, where civilian casualties continue to be reported.
In recent months, the Kordofan region has emerged as a key epicentre of the conflict. The IPC alert warned that the intensification of fighting is likely to increase the number of people facing extreme hunger and acute malnutrition, with a corresponding rise in hunger-related deaths. The IPC classified famine conditions in Kadugli in November 2025, while severe conditions were projected in Dilling town and across parts of the Western Nuba Mountains. Both Kadugli and Dilling had been under prolonged siege by the RSF until recently, when the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) reportedly broke through and re-established supply lines.
The security situation in Blue Nile state has also worsened, with recent reports indicating renewed clashes and the risk of escalation as armed groups mobilise in southern and western parts of the state, heightening fears of broader instability in the border region with Ethiopia and South Sudan. (For more information, see the brief on Sudan in our February 2026 Monthly Forecast.)
In recent weeks, the UN has reported some progress in humanitarian access in parts of Sudan, including areas in and around Darfur; however, such access remains highly constrained, shaped by difficult security conditions and ongoing negotiations with armed actors. Access also remains largely irregular, limiting humanitarian agencies’ ability to deliver sustained and predictable assistance to affected communities. For instance, the 5 February IPC alert noted that irregular access to El Fasher is restricting assistance to surrounding areas such as Tawila, which hosts more than 650,000 IDPs, and Ad Dabbah, where humanitarian actors are struggling to meet the needs of new arrivals.
On 26 December 2025, a UN team led by the Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Denise Brown, conducted an assessment mission to El Fasher—the first UN visit since the city was besieged by the RSF in May 2024. Following the visit, Brown described El Fasher as a “crime scene”, estimating that thousands of people may have been killed. An inter-agency mission subsequently visited El Fasher on 13 January, with UNICEF, WFP, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and OCHA participating.
According to the 5 February IPC alert, humanitarian access across Sudan remains severely constrained by insecurity, the presence of unexploded ordnance, movement restrictions, checkpoint delays, administrative impediments, informal fees, and interference in operations. Access is described as particularly fragile and increasingly limited across Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, with much of the remaining population in El Fasher largely inaccessible.
Deadly attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, including humanitarian assets, personnel, and convoys have also continued. On 6 February, a WFP convoy was attacked by drones in North Kordofan state while travelling from Kosti to deliver life-saving food assistance to displaced families near El Obeid (the state’s capital), a strategic hub linking Greater Darfur to Khartoum. The attack killed at least one person, injured several others, and destroyed food supplies intended for humanitarian response. El Obeid has remained a contested battleground and has been subjected to repeated drone strikes. The incident followed another drone strike earlier that week near a WFP facility in Yabus in Blue Nile, in which a WFP staff member was injured.
Media reports indicate that on 7 February, an RSF drone strike hit a vehicle transporting displaced civilians near Rahad in North Kordofan, killing at least 24 people, including eight children. The victims were reportedly fleeing fighting in the Dubeiker area. At tomorrow’s meeting, speakers are expected to condemn such attacks and underscore the need to ensure accountability for these acts.
During the Security Council’s latest briefing on the situation in Sudan, held on 22 December 2025, Wosornu urged the Council to send a clear and unequivocal message that attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including indiscriminate attacks and sexual violence, will not be tolerated. She warned against a repetition of the atrocities witnessed in El Fasher in other locations, such as the Kordofan states. Wosornu also called for the unimpeded flow of life-saving humanitarian assistance across conflict lines and borders and stressed the need to ensure the safety of humanitarian personnel. She further urged renewed efforts to halt the fighting, curb arms flows, and advance an inclusive and lasting nationwide ceasefire. The briefers may convey similar messages at tomorrow’s meeting.
Tomorrow, several Council members are also expected to reiterate their call for an immediate ceasefire and remind the conflict parties of their obligations under resolution 2417 of 24 May 2018, which condemned the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, as well as the unlawful denial of humanitarian access. These include the resolution’s call on all parties to armed conflict to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law regarding the protection of civilians and their responsibility to protect objects indispensable for food production and distribution.
The briefers may also urge the international community to scale up its humanitarian response in line with the magnitude and urgency of the crisis. At the time of writing, the 2026 Sudan Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, which requires $2.9 billion, was only 5.8 percent funded, while the 2025 plan, which required $4.16 billion, was only 38.6 percent funded.
On 3 February, the US hosted a high-level donor conference on Sudan in Washington DC, bringing together more than 20 international partners to mobilise additional support to address the country’s deepening humanitarian crisis. Donor pledges at the event reportedly totalled around $1.5 billion, including a $200 million contribution from the US, an amount the US had already committed to the $2 billion pledge to pooled funds managed by OCHA. At the conference, media reports cited US Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos as saying that a document outlining a peace plan has been agreed among Quad members—Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the US—which aims to secure a humanitarian truce and open safe corridors for relief efforts, and would be submitted to the Security Council once formalised.
