The war which broke out in Sudan on 15 April 2023 is a conflict between two major militias of the old regime which seized power in October 2021: the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war is a disaster for the people of Sudan. The civilian population as a whole are being used a human shields in a conflict over political power and resources. Since 2023, the role of regional powers in supporting the two militias has become more prominent and is playing a major part in fuelling the war.

The revolutionary movement which mobilised millions on the streets and in the workplaces across Sudan to throw out the dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019 took a clear stance opposing both militias, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the provision of humanitarian aid. Trade unions, neighbourhood-based Resistance Committees, demand-based campaigns and other grassroots organisations appealed for international solidarity.

Read on to find out what you can do to help.

Civilians in the firing line

Hospitals, schools, markets, means of production, and ordinary people’s homes have all been targeted by the warring sides. Over 13 million people are displaced inside and outside Sudan; hundreds of thousands have been killed; and more than 12.1 million people (25 percent of the population) in Sudan are at risk of gender-based violence.

According to UN Women, between January and December 2024, the number of gender-based violence survivors seeking services increased by 288 percent.

More than 90 percent of health facilities in conflict-affected areas are no longer functional, and two-thirds of the population lack access to health care.

More than 90 percent of the country’s 19 million school-age children have no access to formal education.

Half of Sudan’s population – 25 million people – is facing hunger. The United Nations has described the situation as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in recent memory. Famine now looms.

Rape, medicine, life essentials, and food are used by both militias as weapons of war.

Activists and trade unionists are targeted with extrajudicial killings, mass executions, abductions, and rape, all of which are daily practices by both militias.

Resistance Committees

Activists from the neighbourhood-based Resistance Committees which have been the backbone of the mass movement mobilising for democracy since 2018 initially played an essential role in providing aid, food and medical supplies. Volunteers operated hospitals, electricity workers and water workers reconnected supplies and teachers opening schools to shelter refugees. Yet they immediately became prime targets of the warring factions, facing assassinations, torture, and abduction.

Towns and villages outside Khartoum donated food and opened their homes to those fleeing the fighting.

Stop the war machine

Both militias – the SAF and the RSF – are backed by regional powers allied with Britain: Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel. All have contributed weapons, training, intelligence to one or the other recently. The British government has also stoked the conflict directly by granting export licenses for military equipment to Sudan worth £188,000 in 2021-22, and by integrating the Rapid Support Forces and other elements of the Sudanese security forces into ‘migration management’ initiatives along with EU states. For acting as Fortress Europe’s proxy border guards, Sudanese government agencies received  £187 million in 2017 alone.

Refugees welcome

Sudanese refugees seeking safety in Britain were shut out by Tory government policies. The Labour government has said it will carry on with some of the Tories’ punitive measures targetting people who attempt to reach the UK in small boats. Increasing numbers of these are Sudanese refugees, who currently cannot access legal and safe routes to escape the conflict by coming to Britain, even if they already have family here.

Sign our postcard to Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling on the British government to stand with the people of Sudan

Dear Prime Minister 

The people of Sudan are under attack, not from a foreign power, but from inside their own country. The leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces militia are fighting each other and civilians across Sudan are paying the price. Air strikes and gunfire have wrecked hospitals, schools and homes, while ordinary people cannot access drinking water, food or electricity. According to human rights organisations, both sides have committed war crimes, including attacks on hospitals and medical personnel, while there are increasing reports of rape and sexual violence by military and militia fighters. 

The two generals at war now seized power in a military coup in October 2021. The British government repeatedly legitimised their illegal regime, including welcoming General al-Burhan to Britain for the Queen’s state funeral. 

It is time to stand with the people of Sudan for a change. 

We call on you to: 

• Tell Sudan’s military and militia generals they must stop the war 
• Provide immediate humanitarian aid.
• Stop all arms and military equipment reaching Sudan – including from countries allied to Britain such as UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt. 
• Create safe, legal routes for Sudanese refugees to reach Britain.
• Call on Sudan’s creditors including the IMF to cancel the debts as soon as a democratic civilian government takes office.

Add your name below, or download and print out the postcard to send from your workplace

Pass a resolution in your union branch

Model Motion – Stand with Sudan: Stop the War, Support the People

Download resources

• ‘Sudan’s Militia War on the People’ Sudan Update April 2025 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Reject both sides in Sudan’s war’ Sudan Update February 2025 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Famine is the new war’ Sudan Update September 2024 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Stopping Sudan’s hidden war’ Sudan Update March 2024 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Why is there a war in Sudan?’ Sudan Update May 2023 – download the leaflet >>here
• ‘Stop the war in Sudan’ Sudan Update April 2023 – download the leaflet >>here
• Stop the war in Sudan / Refugees welcome A4 poster – download >>here