Civil War in Sudan: 19 Million Facing Hunger as Berlin Talks Begin
The Sudan civil war has reached a grim milestone just as leaders gather in Berlin to search for a way out. British foreign secretary Yvette Cooper is expected to press for an end to the bloodshed, but the talks begin under a cloud of doubt. Humanitarian needs are rising faster than funding, and the fighting shows no sign of easing. With more than 19 million people now facing acute hunger, the conference is less a celebration of diplomacy than a test of whether urgency can still overcome political paralysis.
Why Berlin matters now
The meeting comes on the third anniversary of the war’s start and at a moment when the humanitarian crisis has become catastrophic. Only 16% of the funding needed for Sudan this year has been provided by the international community, leaving aid groups struggling to meet even basic needs. Britain plans to double its aid to £15m for Sudanese frontline responders, including the grassroots Emergency Response Rooms, but that support sits far below the scale of the emergency.
The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification assessment found “emergency” levels of hunger across much of North Kordofan, West Kordofan, South Kordofan and North Darfur, while some communities remain “catastrophic. ” It also warned that emergency hunger is expected to spread in the coming months, with the number of people needing humanitarian aid projected to rise to 22-23 million. In practical terms, the civil war is no longer only a battlefield crisis; it is now a nationwide pressure point on food systems, displacement, and aid delivery.
What the fighting is doing on the ground
There is no sign of hostilities easing between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army. Analysts say the conference is unlikely to produce a major political breakthrough, especially as diplomatic momentum has stalled. Talks between the so-called Quad nations, led by the United States and including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have not produced meaningful progress. Tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have further complicated the picture.
The most immediate concern is the Kordofan region, which sits at the center of the fighting. Paul Byars, Sudan director of the Danish Refugee Council, said he expects the conflict there to worsen because neither side appears willing to give up territory. That assessment reflects a broader reality: local front lines are shifting, but the war’s strategic logic remains unchanged. The use of drones is also making the conflict more lethal, while reducing the likelihood of a traditional pause during the rainy season. The UN said nearly 700 civilians have been reported killed in drone strikes since January.
Atrocities, accountability, and the limits of diplomacy
Human Rights Watch says the Berlin conference should go beyond symbolism and produce concrete, time-bound measures to protect civilians and hold abusers accountable. Mohamed Osman, the group’s Sudan researcher, said the meeting should not become “another box-ticking exercise” but should galvanize action to deter further atrocities and protect local aid workers. That warning is sharpened by evidence from the ground: hospitals have been hit, civilians have died in drone strikes, and civilian infrastructure has been struck repeatedly in populated areas.
The context is especially stark in North Darfur. A UN Fact-Finding Mission found that the manner in which the RSF carried out attacks in and around El Fasher bore the “hallmarks of genocide. ” Human Rights Watch says survivors described bombardment, massacres, arbitrary detention, ransom abductions and rape. The Sudanese Armed Forces and affiliated forces have also been documented arbitrarily arresting people, often on the basis of ethnicity, political background or local aid work. In this environment, the civil war has become inseparable from questions of accountability.
Regional and global stakes
The Berlin talks also carry wider implications. Germany, the African Union, France, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States are participating, and there is an opening for broader support for an anti-atrocity coalition formed in late February by Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the UK. Yet the practical challenge is larger than any single conference. If the aid gap persists and armed actors keep receiving support, the war is likely to deepen rather than narrow.
That is why the conference matters beyond Sudan’s borders. A conflict that has already produced mass displacement, hunger and repeated strikes on civilians is testing whether international diplomacy can still shape events in real time. Cooper plans to call for a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution, but the gap between that ambition and the current reality remains wide. The question now is whether Berlin can do more than acknowledge the scale of the crisis before the civil war enters yet another phase of suffering.
Will the talks produce anything more than new pledges, or can they finally begin to change the logic of a war that keeps punishing civilians first?
