The UN and its partners on Monday launched a Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan as well as a Regional Refugee Response Plan to aid Sudan amid its humanitarian crisis. Approximately 30.4 million people are to be assisted by the Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan, and 4.8 million people will be aided by the Regional Refugee Response Plan.

Tom Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, acknowledged at the launch that this was the largest UN humanitarian aid package for Sudan, with the monetary aid amounting to $6 billion dollars. According to Fletcher, 24.6 million people — over half of Sudan’s population — face food insecurity, with reports of famine rising in North Darfur State and the eastern Nuba Mountains. In addition to this, almost nine million people have been internally displaced.

In 2024, the UN received approximately $2.1 billion in financial aid for Sudan to tackle escalating tensions, poverty and violence in the country.

The Sudanese civil war has been labelled the “worst humanitarian crisis in the world” by the African Union, and the UN human rights chief has repeatedly expressed alarm in the past over the human rights abuses occurring in Sudan, including summary executions.

Human Rights Watch’s 2024 annual report stated that both sides of the Sudanese civil war have committed several atrocities and that civilians are at extreme risk of harm.