By January 2026, the global conscience will have largely looked away from a nation that has become a graveyard of dreams and a laboratory for modern warfare. Sudan is no longer just a country in conflict; it is the site of the world’s largest displacement crisis, the largest hunger crisis, and a catastrophic breakdown of human rights that the United Nations has termed an “atrocity of an unimaginable scale.”
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To understand how Sudan became the hardest place on earth to stay alive, one must look past the smoke of the current battlefield and into a 70-year history of colonial poison, ethnic weaponization, and the cold-blooded ambition of two men.
1. The Anatomy of a Collapse: El Fasher and the Human Toll
In late 2025, the fall of El Fasher served as a grim microcosm of the national reality. When the military lost control to armed groups, the result was a bloodbath. Within weeks, between 1,500 and 2,000 people were confirmed dead.
The violence was not random; it was surgical and racialized. Survivors like Fatima Yaya recount how armed men went house-to-house, using skin color as a death warrant. “Darker skin meant death,” she noted. Those who fled were hunted by men on motorbikes; women were stripped and assaulted, and men were executed if they could not produce a ransom.
The Statistics of Survival (As of Late 2025)
| Category | Statistic |
| Displacement | 14.3 million people (World’s Largest) |
| Acute Hunger | 24.6 million people (Half the population) |
| Child Mortality | 522,000+ deaths from malnutrition |
| Cholera Toll | 191+ deaths in single camps due to lack of water |
The starvation is so absolute that mothers report feeding their children crushed peanut shells—material usually reserved for animal feed—just to stop the pangs of hunger.
2. A Poisoned Inheritance: The 1956 Legacy
The roots of this violence were planted on January 1st, 1956. As the British and Egyptians exited, they left behind a “poisoned gift”: a state designed for internal friction.
Under British “divide and rule” policies, the Muslim, Arabic-speaking North received investment, education, and infrastructure. The multi-ethnic, multi-religious South was left impoverished and disconnected. When independence arrived, the British handed the keys of the entire country to the Northern Arab elite. This created a structural imbalance that guaranteed conflict.
The South asked, “Why should you rule us?” The North answered with bullets. This triggered a cycle of instability: 35 coups or attempted coups since independence—more than any other African nation.
3. The Era of Omar al-Bashir (1989–2019)
For 30 years, General Omar al-Bashir ruled with an iron fist. He turned ethnic differences into weapons of war. His refusal to grant autonomy to the South led to the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), which claimed 2.5 million lives.
Even after South Sudan gained independence in 2011—taking 75% of the oil revenue with it—Bashir did not stop. He turned his gaze toward Darfur, where he viewed non-Arab African ethnic groups as a threat.
The Birth of the Janjawid
Bashir did not want his formal army to be seen committing genocide, so he outsourced the killing. He armed nomadic Arab tribesmen, who became the Janjawid (“devils on horseback”). Between 2003 and 2008, they erased thousands of villages and killed 400,000 people.
In 2013, Bashir formalized these militias into the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti). Hemedti was no longer a warlord; he was a general with a state-sanctioned license to kill and control the nation’s gold mines.
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4. Two Generals, One Graveyard: The 2023 Explosion
The 2019 revolution, which saw ordinary citizens oust Bashir after bread prices tripled, offered a flicker of hope. However, that hope was crushed by the very men who replaced the dictator: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan (head of the SAF) and Hemedti (head of the RSF).
After working together to massacre protesters in 2019 and staging a second coup in 2021 to oust the civilian government, the two generals eventually turned on each other.
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The SAF (Army): Commanded by Burhan, possessing tanks and an air force.
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The RSF (Militia): Commanded by Hemedti, possessing 100,000 ruthless fighters and immense wealth from gold smuggling.
The war that began on April 15, 2023, was not over religion or democracy. It was a dispute over the timeline of merging the RSF into the regular army. Because neither man wanted to lose his power or his wealth, they chose to burn the country down instead.
5. The Foreign Fuel: Gold, Ports, and Hypocrisy
Sudan’s war is sustained by a network of foreign interests that profit from the chaos.
The Role of the UAE
While claiming to provide humanitarian aid, the United Arab Emirates has been identified by multiple intelligence agencies as the primary benefactor of the RSF.
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The Gold Pipeline: In 2022 alone, the UAE imported $2.3 billion in documented Sudanese gold, much of it controlled by Hemedti’s family company, Al Junaid.
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Arms for Influence: Cargo planes flying to Chad under the guise of medical aid have been found carrying Bulgarian rifles and Chinese drones for the RSF.
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Geopolitics: The UAE seeks to control Red Sea ports, having proposed an $8 billion port deal at Abu Amama.
Other Regional Players
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Egypt: Backs the SAF with fighter jets, fearing instability near the Nile.
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Iran: Provides the SAF with drones to counter the RSF’s ground advantage.
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Russia: The Wagner Group maintains a foothold in the gold mines, trading weapons for mineral wealth.
6. The Global Silence
The international community’s response has been marked by a staggering disparity. While billions have flowed to Ukraine and significant attention is paid to Gaza, Sudan remains a “forgotten war.”
By the end of 2024, the humanitarian appeal for Sudan was barely half-funded. Historically, the lives of Black, African Muslims have not generated the same level of Western political urgency. This neglect acts as a green light for the generals to continue their campaign of annihilation.
7. Why the War Won’t End
The conflict is locked in a “deadly equilibrium.”
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Mutual Distrust: Both Burhan and Hemedti know that losing the war means facing the International Criminal Court or a shallow grave.
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Profitability: The war is lucrative for the generals and their foreign backers. As long as gold can be smuggled and weapons can be sold, there is no economic incentive for peace.
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Failed Diplomacy: Peace talks in Jeddah and elsewhere have collapsed because the mediators (like the UAE) are often the ones fueling the fire.
Conclusion
Sudan’s tragedy is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made catastrophe built on the decisions of powerful men who thought they could control violence, only to become its ultimate slaves. Until the international community treats the lives of Sudanese children with the same value as the gold beneath their feet, the “hardest place on earth to stay alive” will only get darker.